It was clear yesterday that the Centurion Test was going to be exciting. South Africa needed 121 runs to win on the fourth day. And Pakistan's 7 wickets. But before lunch, the terrible batting collapsed and the whole match fell towards Pakistan! 99 runs fell 8 wickets! From there, the host team won an incredible match with the extraordinary batting heroics of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen. With this thrilling 2-wicket victory, the Proteas once again confirmed the final of the World Test Championship.
Pacer Kagiso Rabada and all-rounder Marco Janssen handled shaky conditions and heavy pressure after being reduced to rubble before lunch. They ensured a thrilling victory with an unbroken pair of 51 runs. However, Rabada has done the main work of scoring runs with the bat. He remained unbeaten on 31 runs off 26 balls with 5 fours. Jansen was cautious. He was unbeaten on 16 off 3 fours off 24 balls.
The main contribution behind the collapse of the Proteas was pacer Mohammad Abbas, who returned to play after an absence of three years. Career-best 6 wickets for 54 runs in a marathon spell of 19.3 overs! However, that skill has been eclipsed by Rabada-Jansen's batting prowess. Pakistan lost the ninth Test in a row in South Africa. Which started in 2007.
South Africa did not have a bad start to the day with a modest target of 148 runs in the second innings. The hosts, who started the day with 27 for 3, lost the fourth wicket for 62 runs. Aiden Markram, who was playing at the edge, broke the resistance with a personal 37 runs when bowled by Abbas. It was not a problem though. Captain Temba Bavuma continued to lead the team. Abbas also broke this resistance by returning the Protea captain to a personal 40 runs. Then the score was 96 for 5. After that, the batting of Naseem Shah, Abbas quickly turned into rubble of South Africa's batting. The hosts scored 99 runs for 8 wickets! From there, pacer Kagiso Rabada and all-rounder Marco Jansen contributed to win the match with batting prowess.
Score: Pakistan 211 (Kamran 54; Patterson 5/61, Bash 4/63) and 237 (Shakil 84, Babar 50; Jansen 6/52)
Result: South Africa win by 2 wickets.
South Africa 301 (Markram 89, Bash 81; Shahzad 3/75, Naseem 3/92, Amer 2/36) and 150/8 (Bavuma 40, Markram 37, Rabada 31*, Jansen 16*)
Man of the Match: Aiden Markram.
