mid ah-ul-Haq& Azad Shafiq testscthe patience of South Africa

In the first match between S.Africa& Pakistanthere were many things for SA to look into. This was the 100 th test for captain GCSmith.SA holders of first Rank in Test cricket afforded by ICC had to retain it in tact.the match which was to be played in their soil at Wanderers was a prestigious Issue to be looked after. The Test match which was scheduled to be held from 1st February to 5th February 2013. The Test began promptly on the 1st of February. SA who was batting first,did not make any big score expected & instead posted a paltry score of 253 runs in Just 85 overs when they got all out. Pakistan overwhelmed with joy when Mohemed claimed 4 wickets,Umar Gul& Junid Khan 2 each & Younis Khan 1 Wicket of the South Africans.there was one run out also to the credit of Azad Shafiq/Sarfraz Ahmed. Saeed Ajmal who is acclaimed as their best spinner who had bowled the bulk of 23 overs ,however,remained Wicketless. On the very first day itself Pakistan got A couple of overs to play & remained 6 w/o loss of Wicket. The second day began pleasantly for Pakistan with the likely hope of taking substantial lead over SA. ALAS!The second day ,however,had a sad story for Pakistan to narrate. None of their batsmen could post any significant score& in fact theybwere All Out for,perhaps, the lowest Score in the recent past.just 49 runs in a matter of just30 overs giving a lead of 204 runs.it was the The worst humiliation they had in the near past one could remember. Dale Steyn claimed 6 wickets & Philander/ Jack Kallis 2 each Despite having more than 200 runs lead SA DID NOT ENFORCE A Follow-On .perhaps they didn't like to Contribute more Agonyny to the Pakistanis. the second innings of SA progressed well as expected by their players.AB.deVilliers scored a fluent 103(NO) & HM.Amla 74(NO). capt Smith also had a significant score of 52 runs. SA DECLARED THEIR SECOND INNINGS at 275 for 3 wickets in 62 overs. Thus SA HAD POSTED an overall lead ofv479 runs, Pakistan needing a 480 runs to win the Test match over SA.IT WAS SUCH AN ABNORMAL TARGET TO MEET inspite of a disastrous start in their first innings ,Pakistan could not maintain any rhythm in batting in their second innings also.4 of their leading Batsmen Saeed,Jamshed,Azar Ali& Younis Khan fell for just A paltry82/4. However,127 runs partnership between the PAK Captain Misbah-ul-Haq&azad Shafiq tested the patience of SA Bowlers,especially,Dale Steyn on the 3rd day.The next morning on 4 th February( Today) Steyn again eventually removes AzadShafiq first to be followed by Misbah. Here after it was easy for SA & the inevitable defeat of Pakistan wagon the card. Pakistan lost the match to SA BY A huge margin of 211 runs with one day to spare. DW Steyn once again proved he could do wonders in SA Soil.HE CLAIMED 11 wickets in the match. AB deVilliers was able to take The honor of the Day by equalling the highest number of catches in a Test Match of 11 .he shared the figure with Jack Russels. The Player of the match was of courseDW Steyn SreedharanMundanat 4th February2013 21-47 hrs(IST)