Proteas captain Quinton de Kock has won the toss and opted to bat first in the opening Test against Pakistan in Karachi.
The South Africans opted for two spinners (George Linde and Keshav Maharaj) and three seamers (Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi).
The South African team sheet given to the match referee had Tabraiz Shamsi's name struck off and Ngidi's name written in with a pen. De Kock confirmed that Shamsi suffered a back spasm during training which prevented them from going with three spin options.
Pakistan handed Test caps to 34-year-old left-arm spinner Nauman Ali and 25-year-old opener Imran Butt in a combination of three quicks and two spinners.
Play starts at 07:00 (SA time) on Tuesday.
Teams:
Pakistan
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Abid Ali, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Nauman Ali, Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi
South Africa
Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (captain, wicketkeeper), George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Ahsan Raza (PAK)
TV umpire: Asif Yaqoob (PAK)
Match referee: Mohammad Javed Malik (PAK)
Shamsi back spasm while warming up: CSA. Forces change, and SA now enter 1st Test with both orthodox left-arm spinners Maharaj and Linde in ranks. No place for all-rounder Mulder.
— Rob Houwing (@RobHouwing) January 26, 2021
Playing XI #Cricket #PAKvsSA pic.twitter.com/ZlI8ymMZs2
— Green Cricket (@greencricketpk) January 26, 2021