Pakistan 0-6 (Mohammad Hafeez 6*, Nasir Jamshed 0*) trail South Africa 253 (Jacques Kallis 50, Faf du Plessis 41, Mohammad Hafeez 4-16) by 247 runs.
The lethal and controlled bowling from Pakistan restricted the strong batting line up of South Africa within limits and took charge of the match on day one.
South Africa was bowled out for 253 in 85.2 overs and Pakistan scored six runs in two overs they played at the end of the first day.
The first Test of the three match series commenced on Friday, February 1, 2013, at New Wanderers Stadium. The match will be remembered by the South African captain, Graeme Smith, since it was his 100th Test as a skipper.
Earlier, Smith won the toss for the Proteas and went in to open the innings on his birthday with Alviro Petersen. The fast bowling duo of Umar Gul and Junaid Khan started bowling accurately and gave away just 13 runs in the first eight overs. The Pakistani captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, introduced the debutant left arm quick bowler, Rahat Ali, in the ninth over and he gave away three runs. The bastsmen survived a few anxious moments at the crease as the ball was going past their bats quite often. Petersen hit a couple of fours to Rahat Ali but was caught smartly by Mohammad Hafeez off Junaid Khan for 20 after contributing 46 runs for the first wicket.
Graeme Smith became the next victim without adding any run when he was caught behind by the wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed for 24. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis joined together and started the consolidation process with a positive approach. Kallis was the most agressive of the two and was sending the ball out of the fence regularly as lunch was taken at 2-68 after 25 overs. The boundaries started flowing from the willows of the two batsmen after the break and they added 4 fours in the 29th and 30th over. The first hundred of the innings appeared on board in the 34th over with 2 fours from Kallis who completed his 58th Test fifty five overs later.
The score was enhanced to 125 after 39 overs when Jacques Kallis was caught by Asad Shafiq at deep midwicket for 50 off 78 balls with 9 fours. Misbah-ul-Haq made a surprising change while bringing in the part time bowler, Younis Khan, who got the prize wicket of Hashim Amla on the third ball when the batsman was caught superbly by Azhar Ali at gully for 37 runs. The hosts lost their fourth wicket at 135 in 45.3 overs as AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis associated in the center. They crept to 159 after utilising 55 overs when the tea break was taken.
The tight bowling from the Pakistani bowlers continued after the tea interval and the hosts added 26 runs in the next 10 overs. Mohammad Hafeez got the ball in the 71st over and he got an instant result on the very first ball as AB de Villiers was caught behind by Sarfraz Ahmed for 31 runs. The fifth wicket fell at 199 as Dean Elgar walked in the center, he hit a few boundaries and added another 10 runs in the 78th over with 1 six and 1 four. Faf du Plessis was bowled by Junaid Khan for 41 runs as the ball hit the stumps after he had played it and removed the stumps.
Mohammad Hafeez became a dangerous customer and folded back the tail of the Proteas within no time. The last four wickets contributed just 21 runs as the innings of the home side was rolled back for 253 in 85.2 overs.
Mohammad Hafeez delivered a deadly bowling spell and grabbed 4-16 runs in 7.2 overs and that was his career-best performance with the ball. Umar Gul and Junaid Khan shared two wickets each whereas Younis Khan claimed one wicket.
The Pakistani openers, Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed saw off the only two overs of their innings with six runs which was scored by the first.
Pakistan has done extremely well while restricting South Africa for 253 runs and it will depend on the visiting batsmen to put them in total control of the situation. The hosts will try to get rid of the rival batting within their first innings score.
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