Pakistan’s quick bowlers claimed just two wickets in the opening session of the second day as the circumstances improved.
South Africa strengthened their grip on the first Test during the morning session on day two, with Aiden Markram approaching three figures and the deficit reduced to 31 with five wickets remaining. With the Centurion surface flattening out, Pakistan’s bowlers struggled for much of the match, but Naseem Shah’s late wicket to remove David Bedingham will give them hope that they can still contain the hosts.
Pakistan opened the day with Naseem and Mohammad Abbas, but other from Naseem’s early movement, the bowlers failed to test the batters. They were providing just enough sloppy deliveries to keep the runs coming without any interruption, but not nearly enough good ones to keep the batters guessing.
While Bavuma was consistent against Naseem except for one thick outside edge that found a gap in the slips, Markram reached his half-century soon and hammered Abbas for two boundaries. Since he can do it over and over again, Aamer Jamal eventually made the breakthrough by landing the ball on a length after Khurram Shahzad was not used for the first ninety minutes. Bavuma got the edge through to the wicketkeeper after going probing outside off.South Africa did not lose wickets in a heap after a partnership was broken, in contrast to Pakistan in their opening innings. Bedingham maintained the momentum for South Africa with unwavering confidence. He seemed to be more flamboyant against Naseem because of the scoring rate chosen as the survival of a lbw review.
But it was also the cause of his demise. A backfoot drive was too strong for Bedingham to withstand as Naseem drew his length back and probed outside. Pakistan received more rewards in the session than their bowling may have deserved as he got an outside edge to first slip and Kamran Ghulam made no mistakes.
