SA seals place in WTC final with 2-wicket win v Pak

Kagiso Rabada

South Africa tailenders Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen hung in against relentless fast bowler Mohammad Abbas for a tense two-wicket win in the first Test on Sunday and sealed the Proteas' place in next year's World Test Championship final.

Jansen (16 not out) overshadowed Abbas' brilliant figures of 6-54 with a square driven boundary against the fast bowler as South Africa reached 150-8 just after lunch on Day Four and escaped with a close win in the two-match series.

Also Read: Geographique stuns rivals--bags feature event; trainer Sait records a treble

Abbas, making a comeback after more than three years in the Test wilderness, had knocked back South Africa's tricky chase of 148 runs in a marathon 13-over spell before lunch as the home team limped to 99-8, losing four wickets for three runs.

However, Rabada changed gears in an unbroken 51-run stand with Jansen and made an unbeaten 31 off 26 balls with five fours to seal a memorable victory and denied Pakistan its first Test win in South Africa in almost 18 years.

Brief scores
Pakistan 211 & 237 (S Shakeel 84, B Azam 50; M Jansen 6-52) lost to South Africa 301 & 150-8 (T Bavuma 40, A Markram 37, K Rabada 31', M Jansen 16'; M Abbas 6-54) by two wickets

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever