Australia vs Pakistan: Paine says Aussies have done homework on 16-year-old Naseem Shah

Pakistan's attack has an element of the unknown, with not only Naseem tipped to make his debut but 19-year-old pacemen Shaheen Afridi and Musa Khan in the squad.

The 16-year-old has been named in Pakistan's squad for the Test series against Australia.

Captain Tim Paine said on Wednesday Australia was wary of being “surprised” by Pakistan’s young pace attack, which could include 16-year-old sensation Naseem Shah, and admitted it had been studying as much footage as possible.

The home team goes into the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane starting Thursday as overwhelming favourite, with Pakistan having lost losing its last 12 five-day matches in Australia.

But the tourist’s attack has an element of the unknown, with not only Naseem tipped to make his debut but 19-year-old pacemen Shaheen Afridi and Musa Khan in the squad.

READ| Gabba Test debut on the cards for Naseem Shah? Misbah, Smith excited

“We’ve prepared for all of them. That’s the thing with Pakistan, they have a lot of different options, a lot of skill and by the looks of it a fair bit of pace,” said Paine.

“So we’ve made sure we’ve looked at as much footage as possible of their pace attack, and their batters.

“What we don’t want is to go out there tomorrow at some stage and be surprised by something we see, whether that’s their spinner, their quicks or their batsmen. So we’ve done our research.”

Naseem, whose mother died last week, has only played seven first-class games, but impressed with a fiery eight-over spell against Australia A in Perth in the build-up.

Paine said he had played with 16-year-olds in club cricket, but never on such a big stage.

“He looks like a really, really exciting talent,” he said.

“Pakistan have got a knack of finding these young fast bowlers so it looks like they have another one to add to that rich history of fast bowlers that they seem to produce.” Pakistan also boasts the impressive Muhammad Abbas and veteran Imran Khan senior among its fast bowling arsenal while Yasir Shah is a prolific leg-spinner.

Watch:  Naseem Shah troubles Australian batsmen with bouncers

Reliance on Smith

It will be hoping to make quick inroads into the Australian top order in Brisbane, but face huge hurdles in knocking over David Warner and Steve Smith.

Smith carried his side in the recent Ashes series against England and Paine said he wanted to see the rest of the batsmen offer him more support against Pakistan.

“Probably during the Ashes we relied too heavily on Steve, so the rest of top seven are really keen to score a lot of runs,” he said.

“Traditionally we love batting in Australia, we have had some real success on this ground, it’s a great ground to bat on if you can get in and spend a lot of time out there.”