Australians validated on first leg of Asian adventure

Australia's triumphant skipper Pat Cummins says his side's final-day victory in Lahore is validation of their methods ahead of a potentially career-defining 12 months for the national men's Test team.

Having fallen frustratingly short of a deserved victory in the second Test in Karachi, Australia overcame some more final-day jitters on Friday to grab a series-clinching victory in Lahore that secured their first Test triumph in Asia in more than a decade.

Ahead of a two-Test campaign in Sri Lanka in July, details of which were confirmed on Friday, and a mouth-watering tour of India early next year, Cummins says his side's 115-run win at the Gaddafi Stadium proves his players can thrive in alien conditions on the subcontinent.

With the first of their three-legged Asian tour resulting in a drought-breaking victory, Cummins and his players are now on the verge of achieving the rarest of rare feats for an Australian side – consecutive series wins on the subcontinent.

Apart from the all-conquering team led by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting that won four straight series in Asia between 2002 and 2006, Australia have not triumphed in back-to-back subcontinent tours since Richie Benaud's side won in Pakistan and India in 1959-60.

Cummins said the ability of his bowlers to take 20 wickets in Lahore, following the 17 they took on a flat surface in Karachi last week, will give them confidence they can do it again when they return to Asia in the next 12 months.

"The amount of confidence we'll get out of winning over here (is huge), not just as a team but so many individuals," Cummins said.

"Every individual had their moment and has shown their game stands up to Asian conditions.

"It's huge for Sri Lanka later in the year, and India next year, so that's awesome.

"For the bowlers, huge faith.

"The way both Cam (Green) and Mitch (Starc) bowled, I just had complete confidence they were going to go at probably two an over.

"And then Nath Lyon just bowled fantastic. It's as well as I've seen him bowl, I think. Just huge. He just parked himself up one end and goes at two runs an over, (and I) feel like he's creating wicket chances the whole time.

"I think in the past Asian tours I've been on, there's a lot of talk when we leave Australia (that) we've got to change everything about our game to succeed over here.

"I think this is a good lesson that the basics of batting or bowling that make you a good player in Australia can hold up over here.

"If anything, I think it reaffirms that our game can hold up."

Cummins was an 18-year-old on the verge of making his Test debut when Australia last won a Test series in Asia, when they triumphed 1-0 in Sri Lanka in 2011.

Since that campaign, they had been winless in six series on the subcontinent and secured victories in just two of 17 Tests, in Pune in 2017 and Chittagong later that year.

While Cummins said the win had vindicated the ability of his players, it also sent a valuable reminder that the attacking cricket they play at home sometimes needs to be reined in when playing abroad.

Having preached throughout the tour that the three-Test campaign effectively amounted to a 15-day series, the skipper praised his side for suppressing their natural instinct to attack.

"You want to try and speed up the game, you want to try to create things and make things happen,” he said. “But if there's nothing in the pitch, if the ball's soft, you can't just magic things out of thin air.

"You've got to take your medicine at times. I think we saw that in the first Test match.

"Absolutely, you'd love to push for a result every Test match. But it's sometimes just not possible.

"So I thought the way we stuck at it, we were attritional the whole series. We walked away last week still with our heads up high, confident of this week.

"(I'm) just really proud of the group."

Australia's Test series wins in Asia

1956: Won 2-0 in India

1959: Won 2-0 in Pakistan

1959-60: Won 2-1 in India

1969: Won 3-1 in India

1983: Won 1-0 in Sri Lanka

1992: Won 1-0 in Sri Lanka

1998: Won 1-0 in Pakistan

2002: Won 3-0 in Sri Lanka & UAE v Pakistan

2004: Won 3-0 in Sri Lanka

2004: Won 2-1 in India

2006: Won 2-0 in Bangladesh

2011: Won 1-0 in Sri Lanka

2022: Won 1-0 in Pakistan

Qantas Tour of Pakistan 2022

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

First Test: Match drawn

March 12-16: Match drawn

March 21-25: Australia win by 115 runs

Pakistan ODI and T20 squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafique*, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq*, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Saud Shakeel*, Shaheen Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir (*ODIs only)

Australia ODI and T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Adam Zampa

March 29: First ODI, Lahore

March 31: Second ODI, Lahore

April 2: Third ODI, Lahore

April 5: Only T20I, Lahore

All matches to be broadcast in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports