Rawalpindi: After a frustrating session, Pakistan burst into life in the second session on the final day to seal a 2-0 triumph against South Africa. It was their first series victory against South Africa since as far back as 2003. It was also their first Test series win under the fledgling captaincy career of Babar Azam.
Hasan Ali returned a match haul of 10 wickets, Mohammad Rizwan was declared Player of the Series, and it would have perhaps been a perfect day for Pakistan had Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma not fought back in the morning.
Resuming overnight on 127/1, South Africa’s hopes of grinding down the target suffered early blows when Hasan had Rassie van der Dussen cleaned up in just the third ball of the day, two runs short of a half-century. He then returned to have Faf du Plessis trapped in front for five, and South Africa’s prospects of chasing down 370 looked less convincing at 135/3.
However, Markram and Bavuma then got together to frustrate the home side. Theirs was a partnership of grit and determination, during the course of which they negated the Pakistan bowlers riding high on momentum, and then went about scaling the target.
They put on 106 for the fourth wicket, during the course of which Markram brought up his first Test century away from home, and fifth overall. They took South Africa into lunch without further harm, at 219/3, and after they resumed, Bavuma brought up his half-century as well. However, once the second new ball was taken at the first opportunity, the game changed on its head.
Hasan was the man to change it. In his first over with the new ball, he had Markram splaying an edge to slip – the opener was furious with himself, and had to walk back for 108. Hasan wasn’t done yet, though. In his next ball, he had the South Africa captain Quinton de Kock tempted into a drive and caught at second slip. South Africa were 243/5.
The pressure had switched to South Africa. Wiaan Mulder joined Temba Bavuma, and the duo attempted to steady the innings again. But Shaheen Shah Afridi probed in that tight line outside off and eventually had Bavuma caught behind for 61. In the next over, Hasan was back at it, finding the edge of Linde.
There was no reprieve. Shaheen continued sending it in full and angling away, and the South African batsmen collapsed – Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada were dismissed within three balls of each other, but Yasir Shah, brought back into the attack in the next over, finished things off with the wicket of Mulder for 20.
South Africa lost six wickets for just 33 runs, and for all their effort in the morning, Pakistan celebrated another comfortable win.
Brief scores: Pakistan 271 & 298 beat South Africa 201 & 274 (Aiden Markram 108, Temba Bavuma 61; Hasan Ali 5/60) by 95 runs.
