After two contrasting World Cup campaigns, Pakistan and Australia are all set to face off in the red-ball format as the summer of cricket begins down under.
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Pakistan will be touring Australia for a Test series, the first under new captain Shan Masood who was appointed following the recently-concluded World Cup. A new-look squad was announced for the tour last month.
'We were just saving time' - Shaheen Shah Afridi on viral video of Pakistan team loading luggage into truck
As the team landed in Australia on Saturday, a video of them went viral on social media in which the players were seen loading their luggage into a truck themselves. Such work is often left to the airport staff, and seeing the team members doing it was perplexing.
Pakistan team has reached Australia to play 3 match Test series starting December 14.
— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) December 1, 2023
Pakistani players loaded their luggage on the truck as no official was present. pic.twitter.com/H65ofZnhlF
Fans online speculated about how there was no formal delegation to welcome the team, and whether they had been forced to load the luggage themselves due to a lack of hospitality. However, in a media interaction in Canberra, fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi clarified that there had been nothing of the sort. He said,
I think we were just saving some time. We had just 30 minutes left for the next flight, so we wanted to save time. The boys said, 'Look, there are just two people doing the work so let's help them.' There was nothing in it, we were just helping. We call this team a family, and as a family we helped them. That's it.
A 4-day warm-up match against a strong Prime Minister's XI is the first item on the agenda for Pakistan. That is set to start on December 6 at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. The first Test against Australia will begin on December 14 in Perth.
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