Pak tour of SA, Dec 10 - Jan 7

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Out. First breakthrough for Pakistan courtesy Mohd. Abbas. Reviewed by Tony but stays out. SA 11/1 in 3.3 overs.

Though the pace was not on the higher side 4 opening overs by Khurram and Mohd. Abbas were mostly good. Mohd. Abbas was around 122 kph. Couple of lose balls but they have corrected their lines immediately. However, defending 148, Pakistan needed a wicket in these early overs. And Mohd. Abbas has just given them the first. However, as Marco is batting at 8 so there is enough batting cushion for SA. Pakistan will need another couple to get back into this match.

Another leftie Ryan walks in.

[meninblue]

2 down. Ryan LBW Khurram for a duck after Pakistan reviewed it. Pakistan 12/2 in 4.5 over.s

This is good bowling by Khurram. Pitched outside off and moved into the leftie and hit on the middle of the pads. Good review by Pakistan.

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Pakistan review and get their 3rd wicket. SA 19/3.

Excellent ball by Mohd. Abbas. Tristan missed the line.

Inform Temba walks in to bat.

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The rare bad ball by Khurram on the pads, and Aiden hits it for 4. SA 27/3 still needing 121.

Stumps Day 3.

[backfootpunch]

Pakistan will be rueing that collapse

Another 40 or 50 runs to play with and they'd fancy their chances.

[meninblue]

Aiden and Temba have batted well for half an hour now. The bowling was pedestrian pace, especially Mohd. Abbas. Yet, credit to Aiden and Temba for seeing the initial overs without any loss of wicket. Some runs by means of few boundaries and the target is now down to 100 runs. One good partnership is all SA need to win this. PAakistan cannot afford to go wicketless for next half hour as well.

[meninblue]

SA 61/3.

Another half hour of wicketless bowling. Aiden and Temba have bought down the chase to 87 runs. They are slowly but steadily doing their job. Certainly Pakistan will be disappointed for not being able to pick a wicket for an hour, especially defending a small total of 148.

[mikesiva]

South Africa 150-8

Bavuma 40
Markram 37
Rabada 31*

Abbas 6-54

South Africa held their nerve on a spicy pitch and won by two wickets.

The Saffers qualify for the World Test Championship final.

[meninblue]

Hats off to Marco and Kagiso Rabada. Having someone like Marco who can bat as well at 8 definetely saved SA. Also, Kagiso Rabada has shown before that he can score some runs. The ability of bowlers to bat has helped SA in a low scorer.

[andy]

Great fightback from Pakistan though, god only knows why Mohammed Abbas hasn't been in the side all this time?!

[meninblue]

Great fightback from Pakistan though, god only knows why Mohammed Abbas hasn't been in the side all this time?!

He lacked pace and it further deteriorated resulting in performance. Also they had relatively much higher pace options in Shaheen, Khurram, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem.

The other issue is that the wickets of Pakistan already lack pace. His pace is not suited to wickets of Pakistan.

In SA there is movement as we saw when India also toured and his lack of pace gets compensated because his tremendous control over line and length aided with movement on good length brings LBW into play and edges also get carried of his bowling. His pitch map today was excellent. Any bowler who bowls 75+ percent deliveries on good length at that line on such wicket for 17 overs non stop will be a threat even at lower speed. Also after Graeme Smith, Dean Elgar, ABD, QDK only Aiden Markram is the experienced one. Yes, Temba is there but this SA batting unit is in transition.

I also feel that Aqib Javed who replaced Jason Gillespie has had a huge say in comeback of Mohd. Abbas. While Shan Masood was captain under Jason Gillespies tenure, Abbas did not get a chance. So I strongly feel this comeback is courtesy Aaqib Javed.

I saw that Naseem's pace has dropped by approx 4 kph as well after injury. Yesterday, he was coughing and his pace was also down.

It still remains to be seen whether he gets a spot in playing 11 for tests in Pakistan, SL and Bangladesh where they will play two pacers on slow paced wickets. Naseem is fading at the moment. Khurram is clearly more fit than Naseem. Abbas has the best control but lacks pace for home and asian wickets. Probably he will make squad for SA, England and NZ wickets where it will move and Aaqib may use him as option for conditions which suit him.

[andy]

I would disagree and say he is suited to Pakistan conditions....he bowls wicket to wicket and nips it back...in conditions in Pakistan he would be ideal for wickets too wicket ball keeping low nipping people out in front...exactly the same way, Anderson broad and Robinson got wickets there a couple of years ago.....he is so consistent he can hold up an end and the speedsters at the other end have license to bowl flat out knowing the other end is taking care of

[Arthur Crabtree]

Woah! What happened there... what a finish!

[meninblue]

I would disagree and say he is suited to Pakistan conditions....he bowls wicket to wicket and nips it back...in conditions in Pakistan he would be ideal for wickets too wicket ball keeping low nipping people out in front...exactly the same way, Anderson broad and Robinson got wickets there a couple of years ago.....he is so consistent he can hold up an end and the speedsters at the other end have license to bowl flat out knowing the other end is taking care of

Lets see, time will tell as next home series gets played and how they go about the bowling options. Assuming Mohd. Abbas gets selected in playing 11 for home tests, in that case the keeper would have to stand up when he bowls as batsmen often charge down the wicket as he has predictable line and length at a less pace. I think Aaqib will continue with two of Khurram and Shaheen in home tests. Naseem is just not fit enough for test cricket. Harris Rauf lacks control for test matches. imo gradually Naseem too will be effective only in LOI format.

[backfootpunch]

His 9 tests in asia he's taken 36 wickets at 19.05

You can see why he got dropped

He only took 29 wickets in the 13 matches he played in 2019-2021