Brave Proteas suffer three-wicket blow after Markram-Van der Dussen heroics
The topsy-turvy nature of this intriguing first test was never better illustrated than at the fag end of the third day’s final session when South Africa lost three wickets in five overs after looking in command following a magnificent second-wicket partnership of 127 between Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen.
Tackling an intimidating first-innings deficit of 158 at the National Stadium in Karachi, Markram and Van der Dussen had turned that into an overall lead of 17 with just eight overs to survive after a defiant partnership that had begun slowly but had then gathered momentum in the final session.
It was then, almost out of the blue, that the match changed character yet again.
With 7.5 overs to go, Van der Dussen pushed forward to legspinner Yasir Shah, who was always going to be Pakistan’s main weapon with the ball. It looked like a conventional defensive push to an ordinary delivery, but Van der Dussen just failed to get to the pitch and the ball shot low to Abid Ali at silly mid-off who took a sharp catch. Van der Dussen had struck five fours in his 64 in 151 balls and his composure and grit had done much to blunt Pakistan’s attack.
With one end now opened up, Pakistan smelt blood. Four overs later Faf du Plessis, who had been fortunate to survive a dropped catch and an lbw review, was plumb leg before playing back to Shah’s top-spinner. The former South African captain didn’t even bother to review the decision as he immediately left the crease.
PRECIOUS SCALP
Finally, and most damagingly for the Proteas, Shah’s fellow spinner, orthodox left-armer Nauman Ali, snared the precious scalp of Markram who pushed forward to a delivery that appeared to spit and hold in the surface. The ball flew from the shoulder of his bat to Ali who this time had an easier catch to take.
So 175 for one had changed in a blink of an eye to 185 for four as the visitors were rocked by the triple blow, a lead of 29 with only six wickets in hand.
South Africa will begin play on Friday with nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj and his captain, Quinton de Kock, who survived a nervous 15 balls before the close.
For Pakistan, Shah was their main weapon with 3/53 in 24 overs and he will be key again on Friday.
"We will try to get South Africa out as soon as possible because the pitch will get difficult," said Yasir.
"We have not won a test for some time now, so we want to win this test and the series."
A MORE POSITIVE APPROACH
From South Africa's point of view, it was all a far cry from what might have been.
Markram and Van der Dussen had joined forces just after lunch following the dismissal of Dean Elgar with the visitors still needing 110 runs to make Pakistan bat again.
Elgar had played positively before the break to reach 29 in 45 balls before he was cracked on the little finger of his left hand by paceman Shaheen Afridi. Despite being in considerable pain he opted to continue but – clearly unsettled – he then gloved a sweep to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan. It was later found that he sustained no fracture.
Markram and Van der Dussen began very slowly, scoring only 36 runs in 155 balls before tea, but accelerated after the break as they adopted a more positive approach. Markram enjoyed a life, being dropped by Babar Azam at slip off Shah on 27, but showed immense powers of concentration to strike his first half-century in 10 test innings on the Asian subcontinent. In all, he struck 10 fours in his 74 that spanned 224 balls.
Earlier, the Pakistan tail had added a further 70 runs in just 12.2 overs after resuming on their overnight total of 308 for eight wickets. Frustratingly for the tourists, spin twins Shah and Ali belted 55 for the last wicket in 65 balls with the former cracking four fours and a six in an unbeaten 38 in 37 balls. This meant that South Africa’s deficit was an intimidating 158.
The proudest moment for the tourists came when Kagiso Rabada bowled Hasan Ali to snare his 200th wicket in tests. The 25-year-old, playing his 44th test, was the fourth-youngest to reach the mark and needed the third-fewest balls (8154) to achieve the feat.
PAKISTAN: Abid Ali, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (capt), Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali, Nauman Ali, Shaheen Afridi
SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Quinton de Kock (capt & wk), Temba Bavuma, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje
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