His seventh try gave Pakistan half an hour of effort on the fourth morning
Lon Pakistan 272 and 217 for 8 (Rizwan 73 *, Nauman 9 *) lead South Africa 201 with 288 runs
The seventh century Mohammad Rizwan half-time led Pakistan’s efforts on the fourth morning in Rawalpindi, where they pushed the lead towards 300. Rizwan also shared an eight-wicket stand of 53 with Yasir Shah to intimidate the South African invasion, which saw a less helpful situation. what they have been throughout the game.
Unlike the first three days, where the ball held low and the back swing played a part, scoring appeared easier on the fourth morning but Pakistan still has reason to believe that they already have enough run to seal the series. South Africa need to take away the highest successful defeat by a visiting team in Pakistan, beating Sri Lanka 220 at the same place 21 years ago, and they had to run successfully over it. 200 for the first time in nearly a decade. The last time South Africa ruled was in 2011, against Australia in Cape Town.
If nothing else, South Africa can take a page out of Pakistan’s low order book. Their last four pairs have put forward 141 runs to underscore the value of the lowest-order donations for their cause. Similarly, it highlights the difficulties that South Africa has had in removing the tail.
Keshav Maharaj took the first wicket in the morning for the sixth time when he hit Hasan Ali on the front block with a ball that would have gone on to cut the stump of the legs. Maharaj would have added a second screech in his next step but Shah missed the cut view and got a margin but the ball came out of Quinton de Kock’s hands. Shah was 10 at the time and his partnership with Rizwan was worth 12. The stand more than quadrupled before Shah was fooled by a change of pace from George Linde and chased a wide ball to be caught for 23.
Meanwhile, South Africa thought they had trapped Rizwan when he lost sight of a cut off Linde and de Kock revisited for a catch. UltraEdge, however, showed that the ball made no contact with the baton. Rizwan was 43 at the time and went on to pick up fifty off 113 balls with a cut, a bullet that served him well throughout the morning.
Despite Linde’s constant threat, he was not given a second new member initially shared by Maharaj and Anrich Nortje. Linde replaced Maharaj after one but failed to bid for five before the break.
Firdose Moonda is an ESPNcricinfo journalist in South Africa