Rawalpindi, Oct 23: South Africa thrashed Pakistan by eight wickets Thursday to level the two-test cricket series, with off-spinner Simon Harmer playing a crucial role with a six-wicket haul.
Pakistan opened the series with a 93-run victory inside four days at Lahore last week, but Harmer flipped the script on another spinning wicket at Rawalpindi. He snared 6-50 to dismiss Pakistan for 138 on Day 4.
That set South Africa a victory target of 68 runs, and the World Test Championship winners eased to 73-2 in 12.3 overs.
Harmer and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who missed the first test due to injury, scripted South Africa’s victory with 17 wickets between them in the second test.
South Africa skipper Aiden Markram made a brisk 42 off 45 balls with eight fours to power the chase before he was trapped lbw by Noman Ali when his team needed only four runs for victory.
Tristan Stubbs, one of the four half-century makers in South Africa’s first innings of 404, was out for a duck when he edged Noman to slip, before Ryan Rickelton (25 not out) smashed Sajid Khan for six to secure the win just before the scheduled lunch interval.
Harmer became only the third South African bowler to reach the 1,000-wicket milestone in first-class cricket when he had Noman caught behind, and Pakistan’s second innings collapsed in just over an hour.
The home team’s hopes hinged on overnight batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan to lift them from 94-4, but both fell to Harmer inside off-spinner’s first three overs of the morning.
Babar, 49 overnight, completed his first half-century of the series with a single and it was loudly applauded by his fans at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. However, Harmer pinned Pakistan’s premier batter lbw with a delivery that spun back and hit Babar low on the pads.
Babar, who hasn’t scored a test century since December 2022, went for a review but the television replays indicated the ball didn’t make any contact with the bat before hitting the pads flush in front of the wickets.
Harmer then got an inside edge off Rizwan’s bat and the ball popped to Tony de Zorzi close to the wicket as Pakistan lost two key wickets inside the first 20 minutes and led by just 34 runs.
Salman Ali Agha made rearguard 28 off 42 balls but chopped Maharaj back onto his stumps before the left-armer had Khan stumped to finish off Pakistan’s resistance. (AP)
