Pakistan lose three wickets as play ends for Day 2 against South Africa

Pakistan suffered through a disappointing start of the first innings of the second and last Test match against South Africa in the sizzling hot temperature of Newlands on Saturday as they lost three wickets in quick succession. 

The first to fall was captain Shan Masood after he scored just two runs. He became a victim of Kagiso Rabada's pace. His replacement, Kamran Ghulam followed him in the sixth over putting Green Shirts in danger with a score of 18-2.

Rabada struck again on the fourth ball of the ninth over and dismissed Saud Shakeel on a duck.

All the while, ace batter Babar Azam remained steady on the pitch as he got to a score of 34 off 77 balls. He was paired with wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and together the duo saved Pakistan from further loss of wickets and wrapped up the play on Day 2 at 64/3. 

The side will kick off Day 3 play's tomorrow with trail of 551 runs. 

Earlier in the first inning of South Africa, a double ton from Ryan Rickelton and hundreds from skipper Temba Bavuma and Kyle Verreynne powered the side to a mammoth total of 615 as the Proteas got all out. 

Pakistan's bowling attack was left bamboozled from the onslaught of the South African batters with Kyle Verreynne also scoring a ton from just 147 balls.

Rickelton, who was elevated to the opening role following an injury to Tony de Zorzi, smashed a whooping score of 259 and built a partnership of 148 with Verreynne before he got out.

The makeshift opener was also dismissed a few overs later as Mir Hamza's pace brought an end to a magnificent inning.

With the powerhouse duo dismissed, Pakistan's pacers were smacked all over the park by Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj with scores of 62 from 54 and 40 from just 35 deliveries respectively.

Pacer and tail-ender Kagiso Rabada remained not out with six runs as the home side packed up the innings at a score of 615-10.

Pakistan's Mohammad Abbas and Salman Agha took three wickets each with Mir Hamza and Khurram Shahzad dismissing two South African batters each.

Disappointment continued for Pakistan as opener and captain Shan Masood fell to Rabada in the first over of the innings.

Kamran Ghulam followed him in the sixth over putting Green Shirts in danger with a score of 18-2.

Rabada struck again on the fourth ball of the ninth over and dismissed Saud Shakeel on a duck.

Earlier, Rickelton, who scored his maiden Test century against Sri Lanka last month, resumed in the morning session on 176 and continued where he left off in seeing off Pakistan's second new ball, though Verreynne did the bulk of the scoring.

The tourists removed Rickelton's overnight partner David Bedingham for five as the latter became wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan’s fifth victim of the innings, this time off the bowling of Mohammad Abbas (2-70) with a poor shot outside off-stump.

Rickelton put on 235 for the fourth wicket with captain Temba Bavuma on the opening day and has looked imperious on a pitch that is good for batting, but is expected to break up under the hot sun as the Test goes on.

That is bad news for Pakistan, who have lost in-form opener Saim Ayub to an ankle fracture sustained in the field on the first morning, limiting them to nine wickets in each of their batting innings.

Ayub is expected to be out for around six weeks and will be a doubt for Pakistan’s ICC Champions Trophy squad.

South Africa have already claimed their place in June’s World Test Championship final at Lord’s against as yet unconfirmed opponents, but are looking to win this series 2-0 after claiming a tense first Test by two wickets in Pretoria.