Rawalpindi : Pakistan have scored 259 for 5 against South Africa at the end of the first day of the second Test of the World Test Championship in Rawalpindi.
Pakistani captain Shan Masood scored 87, Imam-ul-Haq scored 17, Abdullah Shafiq scored 57, Babar Azam scored 16, Rizwan scored 19, Saud Shakeel scored 42 and Salman Ali scored 10 not out, Proteas’ Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj took 2 wickets each. In the second Test match against South Africa, captain Shan Masood failed to score a century once again by a margin of 13 runs. Nanty was nervous in the Lahore Test.
In the match, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat, and Pakistan’s first wicket fell for 35 runs. Opener Imam-ul-Haq scored 17 runs and was clean bowled by spinner Asif Harmer. After Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafiq, who scored 57 runs, also lost his wicket to Harmer’s ball. Captain Shan Masood also scored a brilliant half-century. Babar Azam, who came in fourth, again failed to play a big innings and after South Africa’s review was lost, Tony de Zorzi, standing at sly mid-off, took a brilliant catch on Maharaj’s next ball and showed him the way to the pavilion. He could only score 16 runs. By the tea break,
Pakistan had scored 177 runs for the loss of 3 wickets, later captain Shan Masood became the second victim of spinner Maharaj after scoring 87 runs, and was caught out by Jensen. During this time, Pakistan made one change in the match and decided to feed the third spinner Asif Afridi in place of Hasan Ali, while the South African team has made two changes and Marco Jensen and Keshav Maharaj have returned in place of Wayne Mulder and Preneline Sabrine.
Asif Afridi has become the second oldest player to debut for Pakistan, having earned the distinction of making his debut at the age of 38 years and 299 days.
If former Pakistani player Amir Elahi is included in this list, who previously represented India, Asif comes in third place. Born in Peshawar, Asif Afridi bowls left-arm finger spin. He made his debut in first-class cricket in 2009 but was out of the game after playing only three matches that season.
Asif Afridi has so far taken 198 wickets in 57 first-class matches at an impressive average of 25.49. Asif Afridi can be compared to South African spinner Simon Harmer, who is 36 years old, who has taken 992 wickets in 233 first-class matches at an average of 26.43.
The oldest player to debut for Pakistan was Miran Bakhsh, who played his first Test at the age of 47 years and 284 days. The Pakistani team consists of Abdullah Shafiq, Imam-ul-Haq, captain Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Muhammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Asif Afridi and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
South African playing XI includes Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickleton, Tristan Stubbs, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brewers, Kyle Vereen, Senoran Muthuswamy, Marco Jensen, Suman Harmer, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada. It may be recalled that Pakistan defeated South Africa by 93 runs in the first match of the 2-Test series to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
