In a see-saw like battle, Pakistan come out victorious in the first Test match against South Africa. SA had scored 220 runs in the first innings. Pakistan were in a nervous spot at one point when they were 27-4, but only till a certain Fawad Alam rescued Pakistan’s innings by scoring 109 runs. Pakistan got a sizeable lead of 158 runs in the first innings. But again, the tide turned in favor of the visitors on Day 3 as they were 175-1 at one point, only to be bowled out for 245. They posed a modest target of 88 runs for Pakistan to win the Test with one and half Day’s play remaining.
Match summary here:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🇵🇰 Pakistan win the first Test by seven wickets!<br><br>Fawad Alam hits the winning runs as the hosts chase down 88 comfortably on day four.<a >#PAKvSA</a> | <a >https://t.co/45UQifG17K</a> <a >pic.twitter.com/9Wv6Xr1cLF</a></p>— ICC (@ICC) <a >January 29, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Unusual Performers:
Fawad Alam, who was only playing his seventh Test match even after making his debut in 2009 scored a century in the first innings and rescued Pakistan at a point when it felt like Pakistan could get bowled out below 100 runs. He also received support from Faheem Ashraf who scored 64 (84). Pakistan’s tail-end which include Hasan Ali, Nauman Ali and Yasir Shah also helped the score by scoring 21, 24 and 38 runs, respectively. The 10th wicket partnership was of 70 runs.
In the bowling department, the two spinners did the trick for Pakistan. Both of them picked 14 out of the 20 SA wickets. Nauman Ali who is making his debut at the age of 34 picked up five wickets in the second innings. The South Africans did not seem to have an answer to the tricks of both Yasir and Nauman.
Disappointment for South Africa:
SA scored 220 in their first and 245 in their second innings. The major cause of concern looks to be their middle-order which failed to deliver on both the occasions. The last eight batsman only scored 67 runs between them in the second innings. Markram and Van der Dussen looked good for SA in the second innings but failed to convert their good start into a big innings.
On the bowling front also, no one looked really promising, with Rabada, Maharaja, Ngidi and Nortje all being amongst wickets, no one really looked to threaten the Pak batsmen after they picked quick four wickets in the first innings.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a >pic.twitter.com/cJkTE1tkqM</a></p>— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) <a >January 29, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Pakistan would have a lot of positive takeaways from the game, while SA will have to figure out what went wrong and act on it. Meanwhile, it is the first big win for Pakistan on their soil after cricket resumed in the country and the fans would be definitely excited about it.