Keepers take charge for combative series

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed is ‘happy' to see a fellow gloveman in Tim Paine recognised with the top leadership role in the new-look Australian team, but says he still expects a combative series when the two teams face off in the UAE.

Pakistan, led by tenacious wicketkeeper Sarfraz, are set to welcome Paine's men to their adopted home in the United Arab Emirates for a two-Test series in October.

When Sarfraz and Paine lead their respective sides against one another in October, it will be just the fifth time this century that opposing teams have both employed wicketkeepers as captains.

It's a milestone meeting nearly a decade in the making.

Despite the pair making their debuts against the other's country within months of one another – Sarfraz against Australia in Hobart in January 2010 and Paine against Pakistan at Lord's in July later that year – their paths have only ever crossed on the field during a 2009 ‘A' series in Queensland.

"I played him in 2009 for Pakistan A, I'm really happy to see him as the captain of the Australian cricket team," Sarfraz recently told cricket.com.au of Paine, who was the Australia A keeper in the winter series featuring two four-day games in Townsville and three one-dayers in Brisbane. 

"He didn't play (much between) 2010-2017, but when I saw him, it was good to see that he's back for the Australian team. 

"I don't know about his captaincy, I saw a little bit, (it was) not a good time for the ODI team in England. 

"Hopefully it was a learning process and hopefully they will learn a lot and he'll be a good captain for Australia."

While Sarfraz took over national captaincy in admittedly less dire circumstances than Paine, his results since being handed the reins should be encouraging for a fellow gloveman.  

Sarfraz led Pakistan's ODI side to an improbable Champions Trophy triumph in his first major tournament in the job, has overseen the T20 team clinch the No.1 ICC ranking while his Test leadership – which has spanned just five games to date – has begun encouragingly in delivering a landmark win over England at Lord's in May.

The UAE series will Australia's first against Pakistan following the retirements of legendary duo Mishah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, but Sarfraz is confident the next rung of batsmen are ready to assume their mantle.

Meanwhile, he believes the strength of his side lies in ace spinner Yasir Shah, who snared 12 wickets at 17 in the two-Test UAE series against Australia in 2014, and up-and-coming allrounder Shadab Khan.

Australia, by contrast, will field an inexperienced line-up in the two-Test series. Five uncapped players were included in the 15-strong touring party and will Mitchell Starc will be fit, his fellow pace stars Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins will miss through injury.

"I'm really hopeful our senior players like Asad Shafiq, he performed very well against England and Ireland, and I'm very hopeful that Azhar Ali performs well and Babar Azam, these are three players that are the backbone of our middle order, I'm hoping they perform well,” Sarfraz explained.

"We have Yasir Shah, one of the best bowlers in the world right now and also we have Shadab as well, he is getting better day by day, so hopefully he'll do well in this series."

Paine has flagged a new on-field approach under his leadership, saying in April: "I think there's always a time and a place to talk to your opposition, but I think what's said and how it's said will be very different going forward. A lot of this stuff we were actually starting to speak about under Steve (Smith's captaincy) already. A lot of the players had their head around the fact we needed to change the way we play."

New coach Justin Langer has also foreshadowed a different method, stressing "abuse" (as opposed to "sledging") has no place in the game.

But when asked if he's still anticipating some chatter from Australia in the field, Sarfraz said: "Definitely. If you play against Australia you have to play a good series. Lots of sledging as well.

"(Mitchell) Starc might do something like that, so I think this will be a good series. I don't like sledging though."

Qantas Tour of the UAE

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Ashton Agar, Brendan Doggett, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc

Sep 29 - Oct 2: Tour match v Pak A, Dubai

Oct 7-11: First Test, Dubai

Oct 16-20: Second Test, Abu Dhabi