Watch cricket video highlights of Pakistan tour of South Africa 2024/25. Second Test between South Africa and Pakistan. Venue of the match will be Cape Town.
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On a level track, Shan Masood and Babar Azam put up strong fight against the hosts, giving Pakistan their best opening partnership against South Africa. Babar, starting in place of the injured Saim Ayub, made 81 runs, while Masood reached 30 for the first time in nine innings and went on to record his sixth Test century, the first by a Pakistan captain in South Africa. The two significantly reduced their 421-run disadvantage in the first inning. With nine wickets remaining, Pakistan is presently 208 runs behind.
The five front-line bowlers for South Africa were forced to work on a pitch that is still suitable for batting even if it is beginning to turn. They will be frustrated by their lack of discipline as they have bowled 23 no-balls in the two innings thus far, including 10 in the second session that is now in progress. Late in the day, Babar edged to slip after chasing a big, wide ball from Marco Jansen, their lone victory of the second innings. Masood stayed with Nightwatcher Khurram Shahzad until the conclusion of the day.
In an attempt to end the match early, South Africa enforced the follow-on after dismissing Pakistan for 194 halfway through the afternoon session. Jansen and Kagiso Rabada, however, both erred on the side of being overly full and only gave each other one chance. With the Pakistani captain on 18, Rabada found Masood’s edge, but the ball soared into the empty third slip area, leaving Rabada on his haunches. Wiaan Mulder and Kwena Maphaka, the replacement bowlers, hardly made an impression, and Pakistan reached tea on 80 without losing.
When Rabada and Keshav Maharaj returned for the evening session, Maharaj found turn and Rabada attempted a short-ball strategy, but Pakistan handled both players effectively. Babar’s drive off Jansen and Masood’s fifty-run came when he got Rabada through mid-wicket. It was Babar’s third consecutive fifty on this tour and the second time he had raised his bat to a half-century in the day after reaching the milestone in the first innings.
South Africa’s annoyance reached a boiling point when both settled in, and Mulder threw the ball back at Babar, who had come out of his crease to defend. Following a verbal altercation after he struck Babar in the shin, Umpire Dharmasena intervened to defuse the situation. The only other dramatic moment occurred when Rabada struck Masood on the knee roll and became certain he had LBW. South Africa was thinking about reviewing the incident, but Rabada had gone too far. With a flip off Jansen, Masood reached his century and looked up to celebrate.
Babar appeared to be following him, but he gave him his seventh catch of the day by cutting at a slower Jansen ball and edging to Bedingham at slip. Babar scored 108 runs over the day, including 27 overnight and 81 in the second innings, albeit falling short of a century. Under considerable cloud cover, Pakistan resumed 64 for 3, finding the early exchanges difficult. Jansen added more bounce, Rabada beat the rhythm, and even though both made things hard for Azam and Muhammad Rizwan, they couldn’t get rid of them.
In the opening forty-five minutes, Rizwan tried a one-arm pull but was struck by Jansen on the collar bone. He bounced back to hit Jansen for four and six in the same over. With an edge through the slips and his fifty off the following ball after he hacked Rabada over point, Babar helped Pakistan reach the 100-mark. However, Babar tried to flip ball off his hips and edged to Kyle Verreynne as newcomer Kwena Maphaka angled one down leg. With his teammates cheering him on, a jubilant Maphaka dashed off Imran Tahir-style to deep third.
Babar was strangled down his leg for the third time since 2022, which is the most times a Pakistani batter has done so during that period. After the Babar-Rizwan combo ended on 98, Rizwan was left to continue to chip away. Rizwan moved at Mulder against the flow of play, attempting to run him down to his fifty, but he under-edged onto his stumps. And then a Maharaj delivery twisted beyond the outside edge and stumped Salman Agha, who had complained about the lack of spin when bowling.
After lunch, Pakistan lost 6 for 76, with the majority of the losses being due to missed strokes. When Khurram Shahzad was unable to hold a square drive down and Rabada was unable to withstand a swivel draw, Aamer Jamal was bounced out. Pakistan may look back on their shot selection in the first innings with some remorse, especially on this surface, given the manner they batted in the second innings, even if it may not have been their responsibility.
It is still ideal for scoring runs even if it is predicted to start breaking up on the fourth day and there is turn available. Pakistan might not be considering forcing South Africa to bat again at 208 down, especially because the hosts only need to capture eight more wickets. Tomorrow, Ayub will go to London for treatment after suffering an ankle fracture.
