Imam misses out on century in Pakistan’s strong start to 1st test against South Africa

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Opener Imam-ul-Haq missed out on his comeback test century as Pakistan recovered well from a brief collapse on an abrasive wicket to reach 313-5 against world champion South Africa in the first test on Sunday.

Imam played a fluent knock of 93 in his first test match after almost two years and together with captain Shan Masood, who made 76, gave Pakistan a strong start to its new World Test Championship cycle with a 161-run second-wicket stand.

The three South African spinners toiled hard but caught a break when they claimed three quick wickets without a run before Mohammad Rizwan (62 no) and Salman Ali Agha (52 no) struck unbeaten half-centuries and gave Pakistan an early edge against the defending world test champion.

Both batters dominated the spinners with their strong sweep shots in a dominating final session for Pakistan that saw South Africa claiming the only wicket — struggling batter Babar Azam (23).

Rizwan had two narrow escapes before completing his half-century when captain Aiden Markram couldn’t snap a low catch in the slip and then the batter successfully overturned an lbw decision through referral.

Agha was fortunate late in the final session when Markram spilled a regulation edge after left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy (2-101) had created an opportunity with the second new ball on a dry wicket.

Imam and Masood controlled the spin trio of Muthusamy, Simon Harmer (1-75) and Prenelan Subrayen (1-72) after Kagiso Rabada (1-43) provided the Proteas’ breakthrough with his third ball by winning an lbw decision against Abdullah Shafique through television referral.

Both batted flawlessly against the spinners with some good running between the wickets and carried Pakistan to 107-1 by lunch. South Africa squandered two catching opportunities in Surbrayen’s successive overs that could have dismissed both left-handers in the second session.

Toni de Zorzi couldn’t grab a reflex catch off Masood at forward short leg and Wiaan Mulder couldn’t hold onto a sharp catch of Imam’s drive at mid-off.

The aggressive partnership between Imam and Masood was Pakistan’s joint-best partnership for the second wicket against South Africa, equaling Kamran Akmal and Younis Khan’s stand of 161 at the same ground in 2007.

Subrayen finally broke the stand when he had Masood trapped lbw off a fuller delivery that didn’t turn much. Then Muthusamy grabbed two wickets in two balls when de Zorzi didn’t miss another opportunity close to the wicket to end Imam’s brilliant knock.

Saud Shakeel left Muthusamy on a hat-trick when he offered a tame return catch off the leading edge as Pakistan went to tea at 199-4.

Babar had a nervy start when he overturned a caught behind decision by television referral before hitting four boundaries but he was undone by Harmer’s sharp turning delivery soon after tea as he prodded forward and South Africa won the lbw decision through the TV umpire and left Pakistan in a spot of bother at 199-5.

South Africa is coming off a 10-match winning streak that saw Temba Bavuma lead the side to the WTC title at Lord’s in a five-wicket victory over Australia in the final.

Bavuma will miss this series due to a calf injury he sustained during the limited-overs series against England, with Markram stepping in as skipper for the Proteas.

Pakistan came into the new WTC cycle with only three wins in its last 12 test matches. Off-spinner Sajid Khan has recovered from flu and will pair with left-arm spinner Noman Ali to counter a strong South African batting lineup with Agha providing another spin option for the home team.

Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi will be playing his first test in a year while Pakistan also included paceman Hasan Ali, who last played in this format against Australia at Sydney in January 2024.

Gaddafi Stadium is hosting only its second test match since test cricket returned to Pakistan in 2019 after a decade in hiatus.

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