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RAWALPINDI: Second Test, second day, second ball. That’s was the focal point South Africa when hit the jackpot at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Friday by removing their biggest stumbling block, Pakistan captain Babar Azam, right at the start of day with fast bowler Anrich Nortje leading the way with a richly deserved five-wicket haul.
However, by the time the long day of action, —365 minutes of them — concluded it was Pakistan’s newfound resilience that left the final Test in their favour after what distinctively was South Africa’s advantage — regardless of the batting pyrotechnics from all-rounder Faheem Ashraf — when they bowled out the hosts for 272 on a pitch which showed no signs of venom while the sun shone enough to considerably dry it out.
And then came another twist in the tail in this highly topsy-turvy series, when Pakistan roared back into the contest when Hasan Ali removed Dean Elgar and Rassie van der Dussen with the last two deliveries prior to the tea break before captain Quinton de Kock (24 off 11 balls) counterattacked in the end to steer the tourists to 106-4, as they still trailed by 166 runs.
While Elgar (caught behind), van der Dussen (losing off stump to one that hustled through rather low) and du Plessis (edging behind to the wicket-keeper) were dismissed, Aiden Markram looked easily the most assured of the lot and continued rebuilding the innings alongside du Plessis, who had denied Hasan recording Pindi Cricket Stadium’s second hat-trick in a row — Naseem Shah achieved the feat against Bangladesh almost a year ago.
However, the ex-South Africa skipper also didn’t stay long when Faheem nabbed him for 17 after finding Nauman Ali, who started with four consecutive maidens from the Pavilion End, difficult to get away. The slow left-armer did make the decisive breakthrough when the watchful Markram (32 off 60 balls) mistimed a shot through the onside and top-edged a dolly catch for Shaheen Shah Afridi at mid on.
Temba Bavuma should thank his luck thousand times while being extremely fortunate to walk off unscathed after escaping twice against the miserly Nauman — the first when umpire Ahsan Raza was spot on in the soft signal in negative since the ball had hit the ground and then Pakistan lost their first review after replays confirmed the batsman had missed the ball completely before was held.
But the day in general, belonged to Faheem and Nortje, a protégé of legendary Dale Steyn. On day two he was rewarded for his perseverance with four of the seven wickets falling after Pakistan resumed at 145-3 to finish with 5-56 in 24.3 overs. It was the 27-year-old’s third bag of five-for from 10 Tests.
“The feeling was special because this is the first time [for me] to take such a haul in the subcontinent where it’s tough for fast bowlers,” Nortje told reporters during a virtual presser afterwards. “And although we are behind in terms of dictating terms, I’m confident we have still got fair batting to get on par with the Pakistan total tomorrow [Saturday].”
Despite South Africa plucking the remaining seven Pakistan wickets for 127 runs, it was a spate of soft dismissals which created opportunities for the opposition as the majority of their batsmen were undone by the awkward bounce generated, particularly by Nortje, who grabbed all his wickets from the Media Centre End, bowling intelligently by mixing surprise short-pitched deliveries while also varying his pace.
The excellent damage-control action of Babar (77) and Fawad (42) on the shortened opening day was a complete waste as the overnight partnership of 123 was broken very early when it seemed Babar’s mind was still in the sleep-mode status. A needless swish at Nortje was well poached at second slip by du Plessis, with the home skipper failing to add anything to his Thursday’s tally.
If losing Babar was a huge setback, the inexplicable dismissals of Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan further disrupted the hosts’ pursuit of a sizeable total.
Fawad returned to the pavilion in a bizarre fashion.
Unwisely trying taking a chance with Temba Bavuma’s arm, Fawad was run out by a couple of inches as the bullet-like throw from short cover shattered the stumps at the non-striker’s end. With Fawad gone for a 155-ball 45 after a stay of exactly 200 minutes since Thursday, Pakistan were in dire straits at 149-5.
Rizwan (18 off 68 balls) and Faheem halted South Africa’s bid for more scalps for the next 81 minutes by holding the fort in tandem as they added 41 in 113 balls. But Rizwan’s impulsiveness for quick runs cost him dearly when a pull against Nortje was top-edged into the lap of Kagiso Rabada at long leg.
Faheem, however, trusting himself as his rich vein of batting form aided superbly as the 27-year-old left-hander surpassed the 50-run mark for the third time in his last four Tests. Unruffled after taking a painful blow on his arm by an awkwardly rising delivery from Rabada, Faheem kept the scoreboard moving over with pleasing strokes in the arc between cover and square leg. His pugnacious 78 from 160 balls included 12 boundaries.
Despite registering his fourth half-century in eight Tests, Faheem maintained that he considers bowling his main forte as an all-rounder.
“Whatever people say even after 10 years I will keep stating that I rate myself as a bowling all-rounder. I love batting and it was great for me to help Pakistan reach a fighting total,” Faheem remarked. “The game is in our favour at the moment with those [four] wickets. It’s important that we don’t allow South Africa to get in front on a pitch that is playing well.”
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 145-3):
Imran Butt c de Kock b Maharaj 15
Abid Ali c Markram b Nortje 6
Azhar Ali lbw b Maharaj 0
Babar Azam c du Plessis b Nortje 77
Fawad Alam run out 45
Mohammad Rizwan c Rabada b Nortje 18
Faheem Ashraf not out 78
Hasan Ali c Elgar b Maharaj 8
Yasir Shah c and b Mulder 8
Nauman Ali c Markram b Nortje 8
Shaheen Shah Afridi c Elgar b Nortje 0
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, NB-1) 9
TOTAL (all out, 114.3 overs) 272
FALL OF WKTS: 1-21 (Imran), 2-21 (Azhar), 3-22 (Abid), 4-145 (Babar), 5-149 (Fawad), 6-190- (Rizwan), 7-221 (Hasan), 8-251 (Yasir), 9-272 (Nauman), 10-272 (Shaheen)
BOWLING: Rabada 21-2-72-0; Nortje 24.3-7-56-5 (3nb); Maharaj 45-11-90-3; Linde 5.5-2-4-0; Elgar 1.1-0-6-0; Mulder 17-7-40-1 (2nb)
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings):
D. Elgar c Rizwan b Hasan 15
A.K. Markram c Shaheen b Nauman 32
H.E. van der Dussen b Hasan 0
F. du Plessis c Rizwan b Faheem 17
T. Bavuma not out 15
Q. de Kock not out 24
EXTRAS (NB-3) 3
TOTAL (for four wkts, 28 overs) 106
FALL OF WKTS: 1-26 (Elgar), 2-26 (van der Dussen), 3-55 (du Plessis), 4-81 (Markram)
TO BAT: G.F. Linde, P.W.A. Mulder, K.A. Maharaj, K. Rabada, A. Nortje
BOWLING (to-date): Shaheen Shah Afridi 5-1-19-0; Hasan Ali 5-0-29-2 (3nb); Faheem Ashraf 5-0-16-1; Nauman Ali
9-5-19-1; Yasir Shah 4-1-23-0.