Pakistan won the crucial toss against South Africa and chose to bat on a
pitch that had signs it would deteriorate later. They chose to stick to
the same XI that won the first Test in Abu Dhabi.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith said at the toss that he would have
batted first as well, but also that he was now looking to make some
impact with the new ball. They had a couple of changes to their team
though; Hashim Amla, who has flown back home for the birth of his child,
was replaced by Dean Elgar and Robin Peterson made way for legspinner Imran Tahir, who played his last Test 11 months ago, in Adelaide.
There were question marks on the fitness of Dale Steyn on the eve of the match, but the bowler was available to play.
Pakistan: 1 Shan Masood, 2 Khurram Manzoor, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis
Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8
Saeed Ajmal, 9 Zulfiqar Babar, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Mohammad Irfan
South Africa: 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Dean
Elgar, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 JP Duminy, 7 Faf du
Plessis, 8 Imran Tahir, 9 Vernon Philander, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne
Morkel