Cricket Australia stand by their promise, announce full-strength squad for Pakistan tour

Australia have announced the squad for the historic Pakistan tour. The team will be visiting Pakistan for the first time after 1998. The tour was under serious doubts after New Zealand and England cancelled their tours citing security concerns. However, CA promised Pakistan to offer full support and tour the country in 2022. Speaking about the squad, most of the players who were part of the Ashes are in the squad.

Australia have opted to go in with three spinners, including Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson and Ashton Agar. Josh Hazlewood, who missed the large part of Ashes due to side strain has been included as well. Marcus Harris has held on to his spot along with Usman Khawaja.

"This squad covers for all scenarios including the conditions given it has been such a long time since Australia was last in Pakistan. With several subcontinent tours and a one-day World Cup in India on the near horizon this is a great first-up challenge for the group after the successful home Ashes series. It's also a very historic tour given the length of time since an Australian side last toured Pakistan," said Australia's chief selector George Bailey, as quoted by cricket.com.au.

Australian Cricketers' Association chief Todd Greenberg also said that while players are a bit nervous about visiting Pakistan, they were keen to visit the country.

"Clearly there is some anxiety about touring which I think is perfectly natural given an Australian team hasn't toured Pakistan for almost 25 years. It's a very important tour. The players completely understand our contribution to the global game and we don't have an expectation that we can sit here and expect teams to tour our country and not contribute ourselves," said Todd Greenberg

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, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner