Steyn picked up 11 wickets in the first Test

Former Pakistan coach Mohsin Khan has announced that the senior batsmen in the national team will play a key role in the two remaining Tests against South Africa after failing to do anything during the first Test in Johannesburg, which allowed the Proteas to walk away with a whopping 211 run win.

Pakistan were absolutely humiliated in the first Test, being dismissed for 49, which is their lowest ever Test total, and Khan believes that the embarrassments will continue unless the senior batsmen step up and score some runs.

Khan noted that the batting trio of Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq would have to be at the top of their game to master the world-class South African pace attack, which includes Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.

Khan praised Nasir Jamshed for his heroics during the recently concluded ODI series against India, but added that he was extremely interested to see if the opening batsman could replicate his form in the longer format as well.

The former coach was shocked to discover that the national selectors had chosen Sarfraz Ahmed to be the team’s wicketkeeper ahead of Adnan Akmal.

He was also pleased to see the return of left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman, who was been banned for the past three months after being caught smoking cannabis.

However, Rehman failed to be part of Pakistan’s XI during the first Test and will be hoping to replace another member of the squad for the second Test in Cape Town.

Khan appreciated the fact that the selectors had also included youngsters Ehsan Adil and Haris Sohail in the side after both of them had an outstanding domestic season.

However, the former coach urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to work on improving the fitness of seven foot pace bowler Mohammad Irfan since he believes the youngster can become a vital part of the country’s pace attack.