AUS vs PAK | Pakistan Set To Play Two-Day Tour Game Ahead Of Melbourne Test
Pakistan lost the Perth Test convincingly [X.com]
The ongoing three-match Test tour of Australia has not started on a good note for Team Pakistan, who were handed a 360-run drubbing in the first encounter at Perth. The game finished in under four days, giving the hosts a valuable 1-0 lead in the series.
Now, Pakistan's Director of Cricket Mohammad Hafeez has confirmed that the team will play a two-day game against Victoria XI on December 22 and 23 ahead of the Melbourne Test.
Pakistan had earlier played a tour match against the Prime Minister's XI at Canberra, which ended in a draw after four days of action.
Interestingly, the two-day match won't be counted as a First-Class (FC) match, allowing the visitors to field more than XI players.
Here's what Hafeez said
"That [the Victoria tour game] was something extra we added into the schedule because it wasn't there earlier. We wanted to have more practice rather than only one practice game. That had first-class status, so we couldn't give all the bowlers the chance to have a feel."
"That's the reason we wanted to have this practice game, so more guys could get a feel of a match scenario; we felt that would work well. We will definitely plan accordingly. All the players should use those two days to make themselves more familiar with the situations and the conditions."
Meanwhile, the Victoria XI side will comprise the likes of Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski, with Peter Handscomb leading the team. The Boxing Day Test commences December 26 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.
 "Vishal Mehra")
