South Africa seemed to have found a recipe for success at home like India and New Zealand two of the impressive sides at home. The spicier pitches have helped them to dominate and forming an impressive record in past 3 years
It took only 40 minutes for South Africa to chase down the target of 40 runs on the fourth day as they romped to a dominant nine wicket victory and ultimately sealed the series by 2-0. However the forty minutes were quite happening as Theunis de Bruyn failed again while Hashim Amla was retired suffering a severe blow on bicep. It showed a target somewhere between 180-200 would have been very challenging with the pitch playing tricks. The next challenge for Pakistan will be to avoid a clean sweep at Johannesburg.
In the morning South Africa started the chase with Dean Elgar and Theunis de Bryun who was asked to open in order to get some of the nick before the third test ,failed as he was caught off Mohammad Abbas. Later on Hashim Amla was injured by a delivery which rose dangerously from a spot and hit Amla on the biceps resulting in severe pain to the veteran batsman. It was fitting in the end the winning runs came from Dean Elgar South Africa’s face for grilling it out in tough home conditions in past year or so and captain Faf Du Plessis who have been instrumental in the win.
A lot of credit for South Africa’s success goes to hostile four men pace attack,a strategy which have generally backfired for the team in the past decade but the South African bowlers led by Dale Steyn who gave glimpse of his pomp years ensured the faith shown by team management on them doesn’t goes futile. In the series South Africa have found what their future bowling attack can be in Rabada, Oliver and Ngidi.
On the other Pakistan have been surrounded by multiple issues . As the losses does it, raises multiple questions on the ability of those involved in it. There is lot of questions on the form of batsmen. While Shan Masood stocks have risen and Asad Shafiq have saved his place for time being but still out of form Azhar Ali and out of sorts Fakar Zaman and Imam Ul Haq place have come under serious threat and captain Sarfaraz place is still under scrutiny even after first innings half century. The problem with the bowling have also surfaced even though bowlers have done reasonable job. However captain himself pointed out that the bowlers were down on pace and that created a huge impact as South Africa took a massive first innings lead.
The challenge for Pakistan will be to salvage some pride it is the last test they will be playing before world cup as their next series is in October at UAE against Sri Lanka , this is the time that Pakistani cricketers must stand up to face up their biggest challenge. This will also be the challenge for their high profile coach Mickey Arthur who has to prove that Pakistan can win even out of UAE without Misbah and Younis Khan.
On the other hand South Africa will be hungry to register another impressive series win at home by clean sweeping Pakistan , a side which was no.1 in ICC ranking 28 months ago.
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