Pakistan elects to bowl first against South Africa in 1st ODI

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FAISALABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi won the toss and elected to field against South Africa in their one-day international series opener on Tuesday.

An under-strength South Africa, without captain Temba Bavuma and seven front-line white-ball players, awarded ODI debuts to batters Sinethemba Qeshile and Lhuan-dre Pretorius along with allrounder Donovan Ferreira.

South Africa’s top order is boosted by the return of opening batter Quinton de Kock, who reversed his ODI retirement last month.

Pakistan has included wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan in the playing XI after sacking him from the ODI captaincy last month. Fakhar Zaman also returns after skipping the preceding Twenty20 series against the Proteas which Pakistan won 2-1.

Pakistan has opted to go with specialist spinners Mohammad Nawaz and Abrar Ahmed. Salman Ali Agha was another spin option.

Faisalabad is staging international cricket for the first time in 17 years and also hosts the other ODIs on Thursday and Saturday.

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Lineups:

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Hussain Talat, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed.

South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Tony de Zorzi, Matthew Breetzke (captain), Sinethemba Qeshile, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Bjorn Fortuin, Lungi Ngidi, Lizaad Williams.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket