Pakistan came into the second of the two-match Test series against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on the back of their two-wicket defeat in the opening encounter of the series at the SuperSport Park in Centurion, which pushed the Temba Bavuma-led side to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25.
Pakistan captain Shan Masood after losing the toss, was forced to bowl first on a flat batting surface before Table Mountain, where scoring runs seemed to be the easiest job for the first three days. However, Masood, during the toss ceremony, mentioned that they wanted to bowl first, which reflects their wrong decision of reading the 22-yard.
The green brigade didn’t enjoy a great start in the new year 2025 with their left-handed young inform opening batter, Saim Ayub, was injured while diving for a boundary in the first hour of the day, which didn’t only rule him out of the contest but also puts him in a major doubt of missing the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 at home.
Pakistan docked five WTC points for a slow over-rate in the Cape Town Test
Pakistan could only bowl 80 overs in the opening day’s play, and that was always expected to attack some attention from the International Cricket Council (ICC) who two days after the end of the encounter, docked five points from the World Test Championship and fined 25% of their match fee for maintaining a slow over rate.
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After considering the time allowances, the visitors were ruled to be five overs short of their target. The match referee of the fixture, Richie Richardson, imposed the sanction, which the Pakistan captain accepted after pleading guilty to the charge. The sanction was labeled by the on-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Nitin Menon, third umpire Alex Wharf, and fourth umpire Stephen Harris, which meant there was no requirement for a formal hearing.
It hasn’t been a smooth journey for the side in this third cycle of the ICC event. They were bundled out for just 194 in their first innings at Newlands, with their former captain Babar Azam being the leading individual run-getter with 58 runs in 127 deliveries while Mohammad Rizwan clubbed 46 runs. The other batters also got starts in patches throughout the innings while the Proteas enforced the follow-on.
A far better performance gave some stability in their second innings. Babar celebrated another half-century knock of 82 runs in 124 balls besides sharing a 205-run opening partnership with the leader, Masood, who cracked a fine knock of 145 runs. But a slump in the middle and lower order wasn’t enough, as the tourists were bowled out for just 478 runs in their second innings before the Rainbow Nation chased it down with 10 wickets in hand.
Teams were deducted one point for every over by which they fell short of their target. That was the third time points were deducted for Pakistan in the cycle, after two points in the opening Test against Australia in Perth in December 2023 and six in the first Rawalpindi affair against Bangladesh in August 2024.
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As a result, Pakistan now has only 35 points in the cycle, as the latest deduction has brought the rate down to 24.31 from 27.78. They regained their penultimate eighth position in the table, but it’s just a few points better than West Indies, which is at the bottom with 24.24.
It means the losing side in the series when both teams team from January 16 in Karachi and Multan will decide who will finish the cycle at the end in the nine-team table