RAWALPINDI-Eleven wickets fell on the second day of the second Test between Pakistan and South Africa as a fascinating day of cricket left the match in the balance.
Anrich Nortje was the star with the ball for the Proteas, finishing with 5/56 to secure a third five-wicket haul of his fledgling career. The 27-year-old bowled with pace and intent, and, supported by spinner Keshav Maharaj, restricted Pakistan to a first innings total of 272. The tourists struggled in reply, but a late counter-attack from captain Quinton de Kock, with 24* off just 11 balls, brought the 100 up shortly before bad light forced a halt to proceedings. South Africa trail by 166 runs with six wickets of their first innings remaining and three days still to play.
Pakistan started Friday’s play on 145/3 after a rain-affected opening day, but lost Babar Azam to just the second delivery of the morning with an edge through to Faf du Plessis off Nortje. It was the first time Azam failed to reach triple figures in three innings at Rawalpindi, coming after scores of 143 against Bangladesh and 102* against Sri Lanka. Azam’s overnight partner, Fawad Alam, added just three to his overnight score before falling victim to a sensational piece of fielding by Temba Bavuma. The diminutive fielder swept in from point, picking up and throwing in one fluid motion to dismantle the stumps at the bowler’s end with Alam short of his ground.
Mohammad Rizwan and Faheem Ashraf dug in for the best part of 20 overs as the Pakistan middle order looked to rebuild, but Nortje again got the breakthrough. The South African quick found the top edge of Rizwan’s bat with a steeping bouncer, and he came back to clean up the tail with two more ripsnorters – dismissing both Nauman Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi in his 25th over.
South Africa’s reply suffered a setback just before tea when two wickets in two balls from Hasan Ali left the Proteas at 26/2. Dean Elgar was lured into a shot by a ball on a probing length and feathered a catch through to the ‘keeper. And Rassie van der Dussen was skittled first ball by a vicious inswinger that kept slightly low off the pitch.
Scorecard
PAKISTAN 1ST INNINGS:
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
M Rizwan c Rabada b Nortje 18
Faheem Ashraf not out 78
Hasan Ali c Elgar b Maharaj 8
Yasir Shah c & b Mulder 8
Nauman Ali c Markram b Nortje 8
Shaheen Afridi c Elgar b Nortje 0
EXTRAS: (b2, lb2, nb5) 9
TOTAL: (all out, 114.3 overs) 272
FOW: 1-21, 2-21, 3-22, 4-145, 5-149, 6-190, 7-221, 8-251, 9-272, 10-272.
BOWLING: Kagiso Rabada 21-2-72-0, Anrich Nortje 24.3-8-56-5, Keshav Maharaj 45-11-90-3, George Linde 5.5-2-4-0, Dean Elgar 1.1-0-6-0, Wiaan Mulder 17-7-40-1.
SOUTH AFRICA 1ST INNINGS:
Dean Elgar c Rizwan b Hasan Ali 15
Markram c Shaheen b Nauman 32
Van der Dussen b Hasan Ali 0
Du Plessis c Rizwan b Faheem 17
Temba Bavuma not out 15
Quinton de Kock not out 24
EXTRAS: (nb3) 3
TOTAL: (4 wkts, 28 overs) 106
FOW: 1-26, 2-26, 3-55, 4-81.
BOWLING: Shaheen Shah Afridi 5-1-19-0, Hasan Ali 5-0-29-2, Faheem Ashraf 5-0-16-1, Nauman Ali 9-5-19-1, Yasir Shah 4-1-23-0.
TOSS: Pakistan
UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza, Aleem Dar
TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob
MATCH REFEREE: Muhammad Javed