Kyle Abbott minced Pakistani batting on debut– 3rd Test

Pakistan 156 (Younis Khan 33, Imran Farhat 30, Kyle Abbott 7-29) and 1-14 trails South Africa 409 (AB de Villiers 121, Hashim Amla 92, Rahat Ali 6-127) by 239 runs.

The debutant quick bowler of South Africa, Kyle Abbott, demolished the weak Pakistani batting while capturing 7 wickets as the hosts anticipated a clean sweep.

The Proteas hammered 409 runs in their first innings assisted by a ton from AB de Villiers and a couple of fifties from other batsmen. Pakistan was bowled out for 156 mere runs in their first innings followed by 1-14 in the second.

The eventful second day witnessed the fall of 15 wickets on Saturday, February 23, 2013, at SuperSport Park, Centurion.

Earlier, South Africa went into bat on day two at 6-334 in 85 overs, AB de Villiers and Vernon Philander were batting at 98 and 45 runs respectively. AB de Villiers smashed his 16th Test century on the 3rd ball of the 87th over off Rahat Ali as Philander was dropped behind the wickets on the very next ball. The latter completed his second Test fifty in the next over as the sub standard fielding of the visitors continued when de Villiers was dropped by Rahat Ali at fine leg in the 92nd over off Mohammad Irfan.

Vernon Philander continued with his aggressive batting and hit 3 fours in the next two overs and was finally gone for 74 off 113 balls with 9 fours. He contributed a valuable partnership of 129 runs for the seventh wicket with de Villiers who became the next victim for 121 off 215 deliveries with 15 fours. The last three batsmen went out cheaply as the entire Proteas side went back to the pavilion after amassing 409 runs in 103.2 overs.

Rahat Ali was the most impressive bowler with six wickets, Ehsan Adil held two and Younis Khan claimed one wicket.

The Pakistani innings was opened by Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat and they scored 9 runs from the first five overs until lunch interval. The batsmen remained watchful and posted the highest first wicket partnership of 46 in the series when Imran Farhat was declared leg before wicket off Vernon Philander for 30 runs. Azhar Ali came in next as Mohammad Hafeez completed his 2000 runs in the longer version of the game with a four in the 17th over.

Kyle Abbott - Deadly bowling spell of 7-29 on debut
Kyle Abbott – Deadly bowling spell of 7-29 on debut

Kyle Abbott got his first wicket in Test cricket by dismissing Mohammad Hafeez for 18 runs on the last ball of the 18th over and Philander removed Azhar Ali for just 6 runs on the first ball of the next over. The tourists lost both their wickets at 56 when their skipper, Misbah-ul-Haq got together with Younis Khan who opened his account with a single on the 11th ball he faced. Misbah-ul-Haq began his innings with a four on the 15th delivery and they crawled to 75 when he surrendered for 10 runs.

Asad Shafiq was held lbw off Dale Steyn for 6 and the fifth wicket was gone at 95. Sarfraz Ahmed provided some assistance to Younis Khan but the first could score just 17 runs. Younis Khan was the last batsman dismissed for 33 as the innings of Pakistan was folded back for 156 in 46.4 overs.

Kyle Abbott demonstrated a hostile spell of quick and swing bowling and grabbed 7-29 on his debut. Vernon Philander got two whereas Dale Steyn secured one wicket.

Pakistan faced a follow on due to their dismal performance in the first innings and got another shock in the day when Mohammad Hafeez was clean bowled by Dale Steyn on the very first ball of the second innings. Younis Khan and Azhar Ali were in the center with 8 and 5 runs accordingly as Pakistan scored 1-14 after 9 overs at stumps on day two.

Pakistan still requires 239 runs to avoid the innings defeat which looks quite eminent keeping in view their bleak performance with the bat during the current series.


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