Twitter Reactions: Pace Quartet and Markram put South Africa in the driver’s seat
It was another bowling-dominated day in the ongoing Test series.
Both Pakistan and South Africa decided to make one change each in the eleven ahead of the second Test at Newlands in Cape Town. Even as Sarfraz Ahmed and Co included pacer Mohammad Abbas in place of Hasan Ali, the hosts replaced spinner Keshav Maharaj with Vernon Philander. By the close of play on the first day, the Proteas are trailing by 54 runs with eight wickets left after bowling Pakistan out cheaply.
Pakistan batting capitulate
After winning the toss and electing to field first, their pace-trio, involving Duanne Olivier, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada shot the visitors out for 177. At one point in time, Pakistan were reeling at 54/5, but a partnership of 60 between Shan Masood and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed injected some momentum into the innings. Rabada dismissed Masood for 44 to break the ominous-looking stand.
Sarfraz, after bagging a pair in Centurion, accomplished a half-century. The wicketkeeper-batsman went on to score 56 runs from 81 balls. Mohammad Amir also showed resistance lower down the batting order and churned out 22 valuable runs. From the Proteas’ perspective, Olivier was the standout bowler with four wickets. Steyn, Rabada and Philander picked up three, two and one wickets respectively.
Markram dictates terms
Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar took South Africa off to a healthy start with an opening stand of 56 runs. Amir gave his something to cheer for, dismissing Elgar for 20 runs. Nevertheless, Hashim Amla joined Markram in the middle and the duo put their heads down to stave off the Pakistan pace-battery. Markram didn’t die wondering during his stay in the middle and brought up his fifty in just 64 balls.
Amla, on the other hand, looked solid as well and he remained not out on 24 runs from 54 balls and would be hoping to convert the start into a big one. However, Markram couldn’t survive the day and perished to past-time medium pacer Shan Masood in the last ball of the day. The ball kept low and crashed into the stumps and Markram had to walk back after scoring 78 runs from 96 deliveries.
Here is how Twitter reacted on the day’s play
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