By Sikander Hayat
Pakistan has beaten South Africa in the second test match by 95 runs and have won the series 2-0. South Africa came close to winning when Markram and Bawuma were batting and Markram scored 108 runs before getting out. Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi took 5 and 4 wickets respectively and destroyed the back of South African resistance. Yasir Shah took the final wicket to finish off the match and celebrations began. 95 runs margin seems like a huge margin but it was much closer than that in reality. Pakistan had to work hard for this victory and they showed the resolve to come back from adversity and win the match. Babar Azam won his first test series as captain and surely this will give him a lot of confidence going forward. After the heavy defeat in New Zealand this is a welcome relief 
for the Pakistan cricket team and management. Misbah was under huge pressure before this series and fans wanted him to resign but at least for now his team has prevailed and this will buy him some breathing space. Hassan Ali was a revelation in this series and especially in the second test match by taking 10 wickets and also taking wickets at crucial times. Shaheen Shah Afridi's effort cannot be underestimated as he took 4 wickets in the second inning and this pair crafted a huge victory for Pakistan.
After West Indies chased down a massive total against Bangladesh, it was thought that maybe South Africa would chase down the score in Rawalpindi as well but Hassan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi stopped that from happening.
for the Pakistan cricket team and management. Misbah was under huge pressure before this series and fans wanted him to resign but at least for now his team has prevailed and this will buy him some breathing space. Hassan Ali was a revelation in this series and especially in the second test match by taking 10 wickets and also taking wickets at crucial times. Shaheen Shah Afridi's effort cannot be underestimated as he took 4 wickets in the second inning and this pair crafted a huge victory for Pakistan.
After West Indies chased down a massive total against Bangladesh, it was thought that maybe South Africa would chase down the score in Rawalpindi as well but Hassan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi stopped that from happening.
07 Feb 2021 - Day 4 - Pakistan is in trouble as South Africa need 243 runs to win the Test match at Rawalpindi. South Africa are currently 127 for the loss of one wicket and they have 9 wickets to register a famous win against Pakistan. Both Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram are well set and ready to rumble Pakistan. Before South Africa started their innings, Muhammad Rizwan made a great 115 not out with the help of Nauman who played really well for his 45. Pakistan’s top order failed once again and had to rely on the tail to get them to a respectable score. Pakistan was in danger of getting out on 150 but then the tail did well to get to 298 in the second innings to make South Africa work for their win.
While this match is being played in Rawalpindi, West Indies have won a historic victory by chasing an unlikely total of 395 to win the test match played at Chittagong against Bangladesh. Kyle Mayers was the hero for West Indies as he scored 215 runs in the second innings on his debut. Bangladesh was struck by lightning as before they could do anything to stop anything, they had lost the match. Same thing can happen to Pakistan tomorrow if they are not careful and they will have to play out of their skins to win this match against South Africa.
06 Feb 2021 - Day 3 - South Africa lost the final 5 wickets for 35 runs and gave Pakistan a lead of 71 runs but the advantage was soon given away by Pakistan by losing 6 wickets for 129 runs and in the process letting South Africa back in the game. If Pakistan can take the lead to around 250, they still have a chance in this match but on the other hand if they don’t, then South Africa will win the match and tie the series 1 - 1.
This is not what Pakistan had in mind when they started their second innings but as is so often the case, Pakistani cricket teams first relax and then come under extreme pressure eventually losing the game. Babar Azam has found a habit of getting LBW out to Maharaj and today was the third time in the series that he got out to the ball which did not spin. Opening is another issue as in the last 15 innings, Pakistan openers have not been able to score a single 50 runs partnership which speaks volumes for the lack of consistency in that department.
Apart from a 50 runs partnership between Fahim Ashraf and Muhammad Rizwan, Pakistan stuggled against the constant probing by South African bowlers. Pakistan ended the day with a lead of 200 runs with 4 wickets remaining. Muhammad Rizwan and Hasan Ali are on the wicket right now with Yasir Shah, Nauman and the 11th man Shaheeh Shah Afridi still to come to come to crease. So realistically, Pakistan can get up to a lead of 225 and that will be the target for South Africa to chase.
On the bowling side, Hasan Ali played a vital role in the South African first innings by taking 5 wickets and in helping Pakistan get a huge lead in the context of this match in Rawalpindi. All will once again depend on the bowlers to get Pakistan a victory in this test match but odds are now in the favour of South Africa. Spinners Yasir Shah and Nauman have a huge role to play tomorrow if Pakistan are to win this test match. In all likelihood, there will be a result tomorrow one way or another.
05 Feb 2021 - Day 2 - Pakistan got out on 272 with Fahim Ashraf being the top scorer with 78 not out. Fahim Ashraf has not played a lot of Test cricket for Pakistan but so far he is doing very well. He is a confident guy with a simple attitude to cricket and does not take a lot of pressure while batting or bowling. As predicted, Babar Azam got out on the 2nd ball of the day and soon after Fawad Alam got run out with a brilliant Bavuma throw. Then came the rescue act in the shape of Fahim Ashraf who scored 78 not out but also had good partnerships with Muhammad Rizwan and Yasir Shah. In Rawalpindi due to sun going down pretty quickly, it won't be possible to bowl 90 overs a day and most probably only 80 overs will be possible each day for the rest of three days of this Test match between Pakistan and South Africa.
At the end of the day’s play South Africa were on 106 runs for the loss of 4 wickets and Quinton De Kock was executing a counter attack with 24 runs on 11 balls with some good hard hits for boundaries. Bawuma is helping the South African captain to get a lead in the first innings as the 4th inning will be a tough ask with Yasir Shah and Nauman Khan bowling really well against the South Africans. Both teams can still win this Test match in Rawalpindi as Pakistan can collapse at any time with batting being very fragile when put under pressure. South African fast bowler Anrich Nortje has taken 5 wickets in Pakistan’s first innings and has impressed many people. Nortje could be a great addition to the South African fast bowling unit and along with Rabada can be a great asset for his country. Although the conditions were not great for fast bowling, South African fast bowlers were very disciplined and worked hard for their wickets. Day 3 will be interesting as if Pakistan can get a 50 runs lead it will be hard for South Africa to win this test match but if on the other hand South Africa takes a 50 runs or more lead than Pakistan will surely struggle and South African will be able to win the Rawalpindi Test and level the series.
India is also playing against England in the first test match of the series in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and at the close of first day’s play England had scored 263 runs for the loss of 3 wickets with the last wicket of Dom Sibley falling in the final over of the first day’s play. Joe Root scored a brilliant hundred playing on 128 not out.
04 Feb 2021 - Day 1 - Pakistan scored 145 for the loss of three wickets with Fawad Alam and Babar Azam scoring bulk of the runs before the rain arrived to curtail the day. There was no play possible after the tea interval and Pakistan were denied a chance to build on an excellent partnership between Fawad Alam and Babar Azam. Partnership was more than a hundred runs when the rain came and denied any more cricket for the day. Before this partnership developed Pakistan lost three quick wickets for around 20 runs with Imran Butt, Azhar Ali and Abid Ali going back to pavilion in a double quick time. Azhar Ali got out on a zero while Imran Butt and Abid Ali scored 15 and 6 respectively. Due to the constant failure of Pakistan openers, there is a debate going on in the Pakistan camp that Azhar Ali should open the batting instead of coming at number three as he is normally in very quickly and kind of acts as an opener anyway. Also Azhar Ali has the best average opening the batting for Pakistan and some of his best/memorable performances have been while he was opening the batting. Although this thought has some merit but it will be a good idea to allow more chances to the current opening pair as it won't be fair to drop these guys only after a couple of failures. Good news for Pakistan was that Babar Azam is still on crease with 77 not out and Fawad Alam (42 not out) is supporting him well. The tragedy is that the way these guys were playing, they could easily have taken the score to more than 200 today and would have been in a good position to put South Africa under pressure. Both of the batsmen were well set and tomorrow both will have to get their eye in again and there is a very good chance for South Africa to get one or both of these batsmen out early tomorrow morning. A lot will depend on how both Fawad Alam and Babar cope with the South Africa attack tomorrow morning and that will probably decide the fate of this test match and the series.
Related Posts:
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving comments. You are making this discussion richer and more beneficial to everyone. Do not hold back.