SYDNEY, Dec 30: Pakistan captain Inzamam ul Haq and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq are expected to be cleared to play in the third Test against Australia starting on Sunday.

Inzamam missed the second Test in Melbourne with a back injury while Razzaq was twice admitted to hospital after suffering from a mystery illness.

Both players still need to pass fitness tests to take their place at the Sydney Cricket Ground but Pakistan manager Haroon Rashid was optimistic. "Inzamam's been going to treatment and going to the gym and the signs are good but we won't know until we see how he goes with batting," Haroon told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

Razzaq was taken to hospital after feeling dizzy during the Melbourne Test but returned to bat in his team's second innings. He was readmitted after the match ended but was released again with a clean bill of health.

"He came out of hospital last evening and he was feeling much better," Haroon said. "We couldn't figure it out. Nobody knows what it was, he was just having severe headaches."

News that pair could play in Sydney was as a welcome relief to the tourists who lost the first two Tests and are already resigned to losing pace man Mohammad Sami and all-rounder Shoaib Mailk for the final match of the series. Sami has been ordered to rest because of a foot injury while Shoaib Malik split the webbing on his fingers taking a catch in the field. -Reuters