Despite Ajmal picking up 10 wickets in the match, poor fielding and batting collapses cost Pakistan dearly as South Africa wrapped up the Test series with a four-wicket win.

South Africa Vs Pakistan: Test 2 - Day 4:

Toss: South Africa won the toss and elected to field.

Teams

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Tanvir Ahmed

South Africa: GC Smith*, AN Petersen, HM Amla, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers†, F du Plessis, D Elgar, VD Philander, RJ Peterson, DW Steyn, M Morkel

Day 3

Morning Session

The morning session did not go as Pakistan would have hoped as Philander and Pietersen triggered yet another morning batting collapse. Pakistan would have started the day hoping the overnight partnership of Azhar and Misbah would give Pakistan a lead of around 250. However, it took just over half-an-hour for the South Africans to strike as Misbah-ul-Haq scooped a mis-timed sweep off of Peterson in to the hands of Graeme Smith at short fine leg. It was a poor dismissal in the context of the innings, particularly given the premeditated nature of the shot.

After a brief stand between Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali, Philander struck to pick up Pakistan’s fifth wicket. Shafiq defended a short ball outside off-stump with soft hands, but the ball bounced on the crease line and spun back to crash into the base of the stumps. Shafiq will be disappointed given he had the opportunity to kick the ball away, but allowed it to bounce.

It did not get any better for Pakistan as they lost three more wickets in as many deliveries, with Sarfraz, Azhar and Gul being dismissed before lunch. Sarfraz was bowled by Peterson and Philander picked up the wickets of the two bowlers.

Heading into lunch it was Tanvir and Ajmal at the crease with the score on 157/8 - a lead of 169. Both tail-enders scored runs in the first innings and Pakistan would have been hoping for the same performance once again. With Pietersen getting the ball to spin on the fourth-day wicket, Pakistan would have felt 30-40 from their final three batsmen would give them the advantage.

Afternoon Session

Pakistan’s dreadful batting collapse continued after lunch as Pietersen and Steyn wrapped up the innings in no time. Peterson bowled Ajmal around his legs whilst Irfan could not handle a quick short ball from Steyn.

Pakistan ended up setting South Africa a target of 182.

South Africa Innings - Target 182

Mohammad Irfan troubled the South African opening pair as Pakistan referred a loud LBW appeal in the first over of the innings which remained with the original on-field decision of not out. It then seemed Irfan had his man as Peterson pulled a short ball to Misbah. However replays showed the bowler had marginally overstepped. The no-ball was not costly though, as Gul got the opening wicket when Peterson’s luck eventually ran out and he was caught LBW by an in-dipper.

Smith and Amla came together and put together a strong 53-run partnership as they tried to bat Pakistan out of contention. Just as it was starting to look like the pair had managed to get their side on course to an easy victory, Ajmal struck in the second last over before tea to remove Smith LBW. The South African side however would have still been very confident after going into tea with the score on 66/2 and Amla and Kallis both at the crease.

South Africa would be hoping to score the remaining 116 runs in the final session of the day without any further hiccups.


Evening Session

Play progressed at a rapid pace in the final session as both teams looked to wrap up the victory. It was South Africa who were well on track for the win due to the lack of runs the Pakistani batsmen put on the board. At times Ajmal and Gul were troubling the South African batsmen, however once Kallis was dismissed LBW by Ajmal, Amla and de Villiers seemed to be guiding their side home to a comfortable victory.

Ajmal did eventually dismiss Amla on 58 as he bowled him through the gate as Amla tried to drive the ball through the covers. However, by this time South Africa only required 32 runs to win with six wickets still in hand. It would take nothing less of a miracle for Pakistan to comeback into the match although Tanveer did pick up his first wicket when he dismissed AB de Villiers with South Africa only needing 14 runs to win.

There was one last moment of joy for Pakistan as Ajmal picked up his 10th wicket of the match to dismiss du Plessis. However, even that spectacular performance from the spin bowler was not enough to keep the South Africans at bay.

Elgar swept Ajmal for his second boundary to wrap up the victory for South Africa.

Fall of Wickets

Morning Session
4-114 (Misbah; 52.2 ov)
5-147 (Shafiq; 53.2)
6-152 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 64.6 ov)
7-152 (Azhar Ali, 65.1 ov)
8-152 (Umar Gul, 65.2 ov)


Afternoon Session
9-158 (Ajmal, 70.5 ov)
10-169 (Irfan, 75.3)

1-10 (A Peterson, 3.3 ov)
2-63 (Smith, 15.3 ov)

Evening Session
3-88 (Kallis, 21.6 ov)
4-150 (Amla, 35.4 ov)
5-168 (de Villiers, 38.5 ov)
6-180 (du Plessis, 41.3 ov)

Summary

Pakistan did not get anywhere near the score they would have been hoping for overnight. Brief resistance was shown by Azhar, Misbah and Asad before a collapse in which Pakistan lost 6 wickets for 22 runs left South Africa with a target of only 182 in the final innings. Despite the low target, due to a spinning wicket Pakistan would have still felt they were not completely out of the game. However, at no stage in the South African second innings did they seem like they would struggle to reach the target. Despite Ajmal picking up 10 wickets, the poor fielding and batting collapses had cost Pakistan dearly as South Africa wrapped up the series with a four-wicket win.