Pakistan’s bowlers responded strongly after the tourists were dismissed for 211 on Thursday’s first day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park. Khurram Shahzad brings up the first blood for Pakistan in the 3rd over after dismissing South African Tony de Zorzi with an unplayable inswinger.
Shahzad picked two wickets and Mohammad Abbas managed to send back Tristan Stubbs just before the end of Day 1. South Africa is 82/3 trailing by 129 runs.
After winning the toss South African skipper Temba Bavuma asked Pakistan to bat first on the well-grassed pitch. However, Pakistani openers Shan Masood and Saim Ayub successfully spent the tough time on the crease when Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen were nipping the ball around.
Dane Paterson and debutant Corbin Bosch were the primary contributors to South Africa’s success with the ball, causing the most harm to the Pakistani batting unit. Bosch picked the wicket of Pakistani skipper Shan Masood off the first ball of his Test career.
Pakistani star Babar Azam who regained his spot back in the test side, was dismissed on just 4 runs after playing a loose shot against Paterson, Saud Shakeel hit a strange 14 off 6 balls in a very aggressive innings as Pakistan fell to 56 for 4 before Lunch.
All the Pakistani batsmen were struggling against the pacers. However, Kamran Ghulam played a counter-punching 54 off 71 balls for Pakistan. Aiden Markram will resume the day on unbeaten 47 runs with skipper Bavuma.
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Jasir Basharat is a cricket enthusiast capturing the heart of the game through insightful analysis and storytelling sharing his passion for the sport through engaging narratives. He is a business graduate from University of Kashmir.
