Twitter Reactions: Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen keep South Africa alive after Rizwan's maiden century solidifies Pakistan

Both Dussen and Markram negotiated the last session with discipline, en route to which Markram brought his second half-century in the subcontinent.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen
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Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)

There was an eerie similarity in the script of Rawalpindi’s match and what unfurled in Karachi a few days ago, as for the second time in a two-Test series did South Africa allow Pakistan’s tail to wag long enough to take the match vexingly away from them, if not entirely out of reach. To add more to bring the memories from a game that would be very fresh in either side’s mind, Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen once again grappled hard to keep things in as much control as they could have, after doing as many mistakes as their team did early on.

Any hopes for the visitors to restrict Pakistan’s lead took a heavy beating on the fourth morning courtesy of a steely Mohammad Rizwan, who added a crucial 53 runs with Yasir Shah for the eighth wicket and followed it by a 97-run stand for the ninth with Nauman Ali after Keshav Maharaj trapped Hasan Ali lbw as he missed the sweep. To make matters worse, South Africa added more to the list of their drops as George Linde grassed Yasir Shah’s chance off his bowling.

Rizwan’s century, tail multiplies visitors’ trouble

The runs kept coming at a fair tick for the team as the duo rotated the strike well, whereas Rizwan was efficient enough to find the boundaries off the spinners. Soon after their alliance breached the 50-run barrier, Linde removed Yasir Shah, getting him caught by wicketkeeper de Kock to reduce Pakistan to 217/8 at Lunch. The agony for the visitors, however, did not end, as Rizwan shepherded along with Nauman Ali, capitalizing on a tired and fatigued bowling attack.

Playing with a positive mindset, Nauman Ali did not shy from taking on the spinner as he whacked a couple of sixes and boundaries straight after resumption to add more to South Africa’s misery. Hitting six fours and two sixes in his 78-ball stay, Ali ensured that he played the perfect foil to Rizwan, who notched up his maiden ton to take the game further away from the visitors.

Linde struck in the 99th over, when Ali got the toe-end of his bat as he was trying to pull, although he guided it to Elgar at mid-wicket to fall 5 short of a brilliant half-century. Linde completed his maiden fifer with a bruised finger after Shaheen Afridi edged one straight to his stumps, leaving Rizwan unbeaten at 115 from 204, as Pakistan finished 298 all out.

Markram-Dussen keep South Africa alive

Out for chasing the highest score at the venue ever, South Africa showed some positivity as Dean Elgar got himself moving quickly against Hasan Ali, picking four fours, with a sedate Aiden Markram at the other side. It did not take too long for Pakistan to strike, however, as Elgar fell to Afridi while chasing a delivery going away from his body. Having nicked it to the keeper behind, he left South Africa 33/1 at the stroke of Tea.

It was an attritional last session for South Africa with Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen displaying brilliant temperament and will have to fight back. Having done that once before in Karachi, they stuck with the ploy of playing on merit and not indulging in anything fancy. The frustration of not being able to find a breakthrough led to a drop in Pakistan’s morale, and they erred in lengths which gave some scoring opportunities to the duo.

Both Dussen and Markram negotiated the last session with discipline, en route to which Markram brought his second half-century in the subcontinent. Their unbroken 94-run alliance for the second wicket meant that South Africa went to stumps at 127/1 with 243 runs left to be chased on day 5.

The way things are panning out on Day 5 with India winning in Gabba and West Indies pulling of a heist in Chattogram, South Africa will still believe that they can win this Test.

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