Babar, Rizwan lead Pakistan’s fightback against South Africa

CAPE TOWN: Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan helped Pakistan recover after losing three wickets against a dominant South Africa on the second day of the second Test here at Newlands on Saturday.

Babar Azam (31*) and Mohammad Rizwan (9*) will resume Pakistan’s innings on the third day with 64-3 on the board.

The visitors lost skipper Shan Masood (2) on the final ball of the first over.

Babar, who opened the innings due to Saim Ayub’s unfortunate ankle injury, looked comfortable against South African bowling attack, scoring a gusty 31 off 77.

Meanwhile, Kamran Ghulam (12) and Saud Shakeel (0) fell prey to Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada respectively, bringing Mohammad Rizwan out to bat.

Earlier, Mohammad Abbas bowled debutant Kwena Maphaka to finally end South Africa’s marathon first innings of 615, which lasted 141.3 overs.

Marco Jansen (57*) and Keshav Maharaj (2*) resumed the batting after Tea with 566-7 on the board. However, Jansen soon fell prey to Mir Hamza after scoring 62 off 54, which featured eight fours and three sixes.

Maharaj then took control and played a cameo of 40 runs from 35 balls with the help of four boundaries and two sixes before Khurram Shahzad ended his entertaining knock before Abbas ended the South African innings.

For Pakistan, Abbas and Salman Ali Agha took three wickets each, while Hamza and Shahzad bagged two each.

During the second session, Kyle Verreynne and Ryan Rickelton stretched their partnership to 148 runs before Salman Ali Agha struck again to dismiss the former.

Verreynne returned to the pavilion right after a 100-run knock from 147 balls, peppered with nine boundaries and five sixes.

Marco Jansen then joined Rickelton and smashed a quick-fire half-century during the 86-run stand for the seventh wicket.

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Rickelton also switched gears and powered his individual score to 259 before he got out while attempting to clear the mid-on boundary off Mir Hamza. The top-order batter conceded 343 balls for his 259, hitting 32 boundaries, which included three sixes.

Earlier, Rickelton resumed the second day’s play with his personal score of 176 off 232 balls, accompanied by David Bedingham (4*) with the scoreboard reading 316-4.

South Africa lost an early wicket on the second day with Mohammad Abbas dismissing Bedingham (5), however, it proved to be the only success for Pakistan in the first session.

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Wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne joined Rickelton and launched an attack on Pakistan bowlers with an unbeaten stand of 113 runs for the sixth wicket.

Verreynne (74*) was on the crease with Rickelton, who was playing on 213* when umpires called for Lunch with the scoreboard reading 429-5.

Pakistan Playing XI: Shan Masood (c), Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Khurram Shahzad.

South Africa Playing XI: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Kwena Maphaka.

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