Everyone thought it wasn’t going to be easy for Pakistan to win the Test series against South Africa, even with the matches being played at their home venues, because the pitches are going to be as foreign for the hosts as for the visitors.
Pakistan struggled at the end of day one to turn people’s doubts into realities, but from then onwards, it was a piece of cake as the Men in Green bagged a comfortable seven-wicket win over South Africa in the first Test to bag a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Pakistan and South Africa now travel to Rawalpindi to play the second Test and the hosts would be eyeing a series sweep, while the visitors would be planning a change in fortune to level the series before the two sides take each other on in T20Is in Lahore.
There were a lot of positive for Pakistan coming out of the first Test victory over South Africa, but there were a few things which they did right to bag a long-awaited victory over the Proteas in the five-day format.
Great execution of plans
Pakistan lost the toss when the first Test started in Karachi, but they did not lose hope and their execution of the bowling and batting plans were nearly perfect.
After South Africa were skittled for 220 in the first inning, Pakistan lost four quick wickets before the end of day one, but all thanks to the resistance showed by Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam at the start of day two, the hosts pushed their way right back into the match.
The Karachi pitch demanded patience from the batsmen and the Pakistani batsmen showed exactly that to see off the new ball, negate whatever swing and seam was at offer and then played the spinners with impeccable technique to bag a significant lead.
The next part of the plan was to dismiss the South Africans before they could amass a big target in the second innings, and once again all thanks to the spinners, Pakistan were able to restrict the visitors.
After that an 89-run target would not have been difficult for any side to chase as the hosts ended the match before it could see the light of day five.
Babar exuding confidence
Pakistan all-format skipper Babar Azam was standing in his first Test as the captain of the five-day side, after missing the chance to lead the pack during New Zealand Tests due to a fractured thumb. There would have been nerves, but Babar tackled them perfectly to start his captaincy reign in Tests with a victory.
Pakistan would be happy that Babar could start his Test captaincy with a win because that would give him all the confidence in the world for the future. His ODI and T20I stints as captain have produced mixed result, but if Pakistan can pull a win out of the hat in Rawalpindi too, it could do wonders for Babar in the long run.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s bowlers and batsmen all deserve credit for contributing as much as they could to help make it a memorable captaincy debut for Babar and he would be thanking Nauman Ali, Yasir Shah and Fawad Alam specifically for their significant impacts in the first Test against South Africa.
Taking advantage of home conditions
Every cricket playing nation is nearly invincible on their home turf, and they do that by doctoring the playing conditions in their favour.
Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand pitches are famous for bounce and swing, so the Asian sides struggle there. Asian sides prefer to play in spin-friendly conditions and the aforementioned sides’ loss record when visiting Asia is a testament to that.
Pakistan were missing the home advantage for a long time due to the exodus of international cricket from the country. However, with cricket finally back in Pakistan, the Men in Green can now set up their own fortresses at their home venues and skittle the mightiest of oppositions with the home advantage.
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