Green Shirts lose three back-to-back wickets against Proteas as Rabada strikes twice and Janses dismisses one batter
\n newlands
\nPakistan faced disappointment as the side kicked off the first innings of the second and last Test match against South Africa in the sweltering heat of Newlands on Saturday as they lost back-to-back three wickets including wicket of captain Shan Masood.
\nReeling from the onslaught of South African batters, Pakistan\u2019s skipper fell to to Rabada in the first over of the innings. Kamran Ghulam followed him in the sixth over putting Green Shirts in danger with a score of 18-2.
\nRabada struck again on the fourth ball of the ninth over and dismissed Saud Shakeel on a duck.
\nAll the while, ace batter Babar Azam remained steady on the pitch as he got to a score of 34 off 77 balls. He was paired with wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and together the duo saved Pakistan from further loss of wickets and wrapped up the play on Day 2 at 64\/3.
\nEarlier in South Africa\u2019s first inning, makeshift opener Ryan Rickelton\u2019s 259 powered South Africa to score of 615.
\nPakistan\u2019s bowling attack was left bamboozled from the onslaught of the South African batters with Kyle Verreynne also scoring a ton from just 147 balls.
\nRickelton, who was elevated to the opening role following an injury to Tony de Zorzi, smashed a whooping score of 259 and built a partnership of 148 with Verreynne before he got out.
\nThe makeshift opener was also dismissed a few overs later as Mir Hamza\u2019s pace brought an end to a magnificent inning.
\nWith the powerhouse duo dismissed, Pakistan\u2019s pacers were smacked all over the park by Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj with scores of 62 from 54 and 40 from just 35 deliveries respectively.
\nPacer and tail-ender Kagiso Rabada remained not out with six runs as the home side packed up the innings at a score of 615-10.
\nPakistan\u2019s Mohammad Abbas and Salman Agha took three wickets each with Mir Hamza and Khurram Shahzad dismissing two South African batters each.
\nEarlier, Rickelton, who scored his maiden Test century against Sri Lanka last month, resumed in the morning session on 176 and continued where he left off in seeing off Pakistan\u2019s second new ball, though Verreynne did the bulk of the scoring.
\nThe tourists removed Rickelton\u2019s overnight partner David Bedingham for five as the latter became wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan\u2019s fifth victim of the innings, this time off the bowling of Mohammad Abbas (2-70) with a poor shot outside off-stump.
\nRickelton put on 235 for the fourth wicket with captain Temba Bavuma on the opening day and has looked imperious on a pitch that is good for batting, but is expected to break up under the hot sun as the Test goes on.
\nThat is bad news for Pakistan, who have lost in-form opener Saim Ayub to an ankle fracture sustained in the field on the first morning, limiting them to nine wickets in each of their batting innings. Ayub is expected to be out for around six weeks and will be a doubt for Pakistan\u2019s ICC Champions Trophy squad.
\nSouth Africa have already claimed their place in June\u2019s World Test Championship final at Lord\u2019s against as yet unconfirmed opponents, but are looking to win this series 2-0 after claiming a tense first Test by two wickets in Pretoria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Green Shirts lose three back-to-back wickets against Proteas as Rabada strikes twice and Janses dismisses one batter newlands Pakistan faced disappointment as the side kicked off the first innings of the second and last Test match against South Africa in the sweltering heat of Newlands on Saturday as they lost back-to-back three wickets including wicket […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-453603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n