Under bright Centurion conditions, the overnight batters Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma aimed to minimise the trail with a cautious approach. Bavuma played second-fiddle to Markram who notched up his fifty quickly and made bold strokes. However, the 70-run fourth-wicket partnership concluded in the 37th over but David Bedingham filled the skipper’s shoes by assisting the South African white ball captain for a while. However, he fell for 30 as Naseem Shah struck at the cusp of Lunch with the score reflecting 180/5.
Kyle Verreynne fell prey to Naseem at the start of the session, followed by Marco Jansen departing in a space of 13 balls. Just when Markram looked to be carrying the team with his elegant shots, Khurram Shahzad’s bumper left him eleven runs shy of a ton. South Africa were just a couple of runs ahead when Kagiso Rabada joined new batter Corbin Bosch at the middle. The pair nurdled their way at the start to increase the lead, adding 41 runs before Aamer Jamal outsmarted the veteran pacer. With a single wicket in hand, Bosch countered on any given looseners and tried to keep more strike. With time, Dane Paterson showed that he can be trusted, helping Bosch play his natural game and reach his maiden fifty on debut. As the session got extended by half an hour, the tenth-wicket stand made the visitors toil hard before Saim Ayub did the trick by removing Paterson with South Africa bundled for 301.
The Pakistan openers Shan Masood and Saim Ayub kicked off the third session with the bat in hand against the new ball duo of Corbin Bosch and Kagiso Rabada. The pair failed to yield returns until the first ten overs where Pakistan accumulated 48 runs. As the pair neared the fifty-run total, Rabada cleaned up Ayub in the eleventh over followed by Marco Jansen removing Masood and Kamran Ghulam in the 17th and 19th over. With Babar Azam semi-settled at one end, Pakistan reached 88 runs in 22 overs before the umpires called Stumps due to badlight.
Ohh!
Yupe!
It was out!
Good game!
South Africa 🇿🇦 vs Pakistan 🇵🇰, Centurion – 1st Test
Stumps on day 2: Pakistan 🇵🇰 88*-3, 211 (first innings) | South Africa 🇿🇦 301, Pakistan trail by 2 runs.
A good day for South Africa with the help of Aiden Markram 89 (144) and Corbin Bosch 81 (93).#SAvsPAK #PAKvSA #WTC25 pic.twitter.com/bCXpAwEEW9— Akaran.A (@Akaran_1) December 27, 2024
Babar Azam looks good?
Yeah!
True that!
Hmm!
