Cricket-Revamped Australia on journey of discovery in Pakistan

(Reuters) - Australia are on a journey of discovery as they tour Pakistan for the first time in a quarter of a century and will hope to emerge with a first away test series win in six years.

Pat Cummins's side have not played a test off-shore since the outbreak of COVID-19 and many of the players are visiting the South Asian nation for the first time.

Thirty-four year-old spinner Nathan Lyon, one of the squad's most senior players, was 10 when the last Australian side toured in 1998 and won a three-match series 1-0.

"I'll say it's a totally different challenge to what we're used to at home," Lyon told reporters on Wednesday, two days before the first of three tests gets underway in Rawalpindi.

"We haven't played an away test since 2019 so it's going to be a big challenge for us but it's a young, exciting Australian test squad that we have here at the moment."

Australia are also starting life without head coach Justin Langer, with the Western Australian having resigned in acrimony after rejecting a short-term contract extension in the wake of the 4-0 Ashes win.

Langer's former deputy Andrew McDonald has taken the reins on an interim basis.

While Pakistan has hosted a few tests in recent years, Australia's tour will be something of a watershed for the country as it seeks to allay lingering fears about its security more than a decade after gunmen attacked a convoy carrying the Sri Lanka team in 2009.

Cricket's other major powers India and England have not played a test there since the attack, and New Zealand abruptly aborted a white-ball tour last September just before the first match after an undisclosed security threat.

A death threat made to spinner Ashton Agar via social media this week generated headlines in