SA must do the impossible on Wednesday to take a series lead over Pakistan after a good old-fashioned batting collapse by the home team gave the Proteas a glimmer of hope in the first Test.
It is just a glimmer, however. SA need to score 277 to win, which would be the highest total by a visiting team to win a Test in Pakistan, surpassing Sri Lanka’s 220 in Rawalpindi in 2000.
Ryan Rickleton — dropped on 26 by Abdullah Shafique at short leg — will resume on Wednesday on 29, in the company of Tony de Zorzi, who has 19.
The Proteas reached 51/2 at stumps, a credible effort on a Lahore pitch which is spinning viciously.
Aiden Markram and Wiaan Mulder, who were both dismissed in the final session, will rue their errors; Markram missed an attempted slog sweep and was bowled while Mulder was indecisive and edged to slip.
Noman Ali claimed both scalps and should have had Rickelton, but Shafique showed poor technique.
That SA are even in a position to contemplate an unlikely victory is courtesy of a reckless second innings by Pakistan, in which the home batters failed to find the right balance between defence and attack. In favouring the latter, they then executed poorly.
The Proteas played their part in creating doubts in the minds of the home side.
Kagiso Rabada bowled an outstanding opening spell of six overs — getting the ball to move off the seam — which cruelly went unrewarded.
Instead, Simon Harmer claimed the first two wickets before lunch to lift SA’s spirits after they had been bowled out halfway through the morning session for 269.
That gave Pakistan a lead of 109, and would have come as a disappointment to the Proteas for whom De Zorzi scored a fine century.
He will probably have to match that effort in the second innings if the Proteas are to win, but he will have enough intel from how he played on Monday and on Tuesday morning to aid him.
He was decisive with his footwork and his choice of shot and after a tricky start, in which he edged boundaries off the two Pakistan seamers, showed confidence against the spinners.
He was dismissed for 104 and the look of disappointment on his face summed up the feeling of his team, who were far behind in the match at that point.
But while Pakistan were able to score comfortably above three runs an over in the second session, they also gave away their wickets.
Shafique and Saud Shakeel were dismissed attempting attack shots and Rabada returned to produce another excellent spell, dismissing Babar Azam lbw with a delivery that decked back into the right-hander.
That was a major momentum shifter in the innings because Babar had played fluently for his 42 runs — the highest score in Pakistan’s second innings.
After Harmer bowled Mohammad Rizwan with a snorter from around the wicket, Senuran Muthusamy ran through the rest of the Pakistan line-up, inflicting a collapse that saw the hosts lose their last six wickets for just 16 runs in less than seven overs.
Muthusamy after taking 6/117 in the first innings, added a further five wickets to his name on Tuesday, claiming match figures of 11/174.
He is only the fifth SA spinner to pick up a 10-wicket haul in a Test, joining Paul Adams, Hugh Tayfield, Keshav Maharaj and Bert Vogler.
In all likelihood his batting will be required again on Wednesday, in what will certainly be the most difficult conditions many, in a still relatively inexperienced team, will have encountered.
Much will depend on De Zorzi and Rickelton, SA’s two best players from the first innings, if the seemingly impossible is to be achieved.
Reuters
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