Lahore : Pakistan’s 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) campaign has begun with the first Test match between Pakistan and South Africa. In the first innings of the first Test of the 2-Test series against South Africa, Pakistan’s team was bowled out for 378 runs, in response to which South Africa scored 216 runs for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of the second day’s play. Noman Ali took 4 wickets for the Pakistan team, Sajid Khan and Salman Ali Agha took one wicket each.
On the second day of the Test match played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan started the game at 313 runs for 5 wickets and the entire team returned to the pavilion with an increase of 65 runs. The last 5 wickets fell by a margin of only 16 runs and the entire national team was bundled out for 378 runs. South Africa’s first wicket fell for 45 runs, Aiden Markram was caught by wicketkeeper Rizwan off the ball of Nauman Ali after scoring 20 runs, while Wayne Mulder was out after scoring 17 runs for a total score of 80 runs. Ryan Rickelton and Tony de Zorzi played a responsible game for the third wicket and brought the scoreboard to 174 runs, during which both players completed their half-centuries. However, after that, wickets continued to fall intermittently, Ryan Rickelton was dismissed after scoring 71 runs, Tristan Stubbs was a guest of only 8 runs and Dewald Brews did not even bother to open the account, wicketkeeper-batsman Kyle Vereen was dismissed after scoring 2 runs.
Earlier, when the second day’s play began, Salman Ali Agha and Mohammad Rizwan were at the crease with 52 and 62 runs, but Mohammad Rizwan, after adding 13 runs to his individual score, was caught by the wicketkeeper off the ball of Muthuswamy after scoring 75 runs for a total score of 362. Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha set a record partnership of 163 runs for the sixth wicket in the Test against South Africa. Salman Ali Agha was the last player to be dismissed for Pakistan, who was caught by Muthuswamy off the ball of spinner Prenell Sabrine at an individual score of 93 runs and fell victim to a nervous ninety.
For South Africa, Senoran Muthuswamy took 6, Prenellen Sabrine 2, while Kagiso Rabada and Simon Herman took one wicket each. For Pakistan, Imam-ul-Haq 93, Salman Ali Agha 93, Shan Masood 76, Mohammad Rizwan 75, Babar Azam 23, Abdullah Shafiq 2 and Saud Shakeel 0 runs. Shafiq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan; South African team; Aiden Markram (captain), Dewald Brewers, Tony de Zorzi, Simon Harmer, Wien Milder, Senoran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickleton, Tristan Stubbs, Prenellen Subrian, Kyle Verney; Match umpires are Chris Brown (New Zealand) and Rod Tucker (Australia), TV umpire: Sharafudullah Saikat (Bangladesh), and match referee Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).
