SA vs PAK 2024/25, SA vs PAK 2nd Test Match Preview

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The attempt to give context to this Test series may ironically have taken some away from this Test match, particularly where South Africa is concerned. The hosts have already qualified for the World Test Championship final after beating Pakistan by two wickets at Centurion and, as such, do not necessarily have a bigger picture to play for. However, they have won eight consecutive home Test matches against Pakistan, and have never won a home series against them since the turn of the century, and in this bilateral context, there is still a lot to play for.

In the days since South Africa qualified, some attention has been paid to the perceived softer nature of their draw en route to the World Test Championship, a match for which their coach Shukri Conrad “did not apologize.” But with no Test cricket between this Test and the WTC final, South Africa will want to go into the final in style and extend a winning streak that already stretches to six matches.

Pakistan’s WTC hopes have long since gone up in smoke, but they need to get out of the habit of letting winning positions slip away, a habit in this particular cycle. As a result, they have now lost seven of the last nine Tests, and all of the last eight in South Africa. Centurion came closest to breaking that hoodoo, at one point coming within two wickets of a resounding victory, with South Africa still 49 runs away from victory. But as has been the case too often with Pakistan, they struggled to finish the tail with the ball and saw another one slip through their fingers.

Newlands are undoubtedly playing to their strengths a little more, not having the express pace that South Africa possess. It’s a surface on which both captains expect to take a little more spin than Centurion, and should return to its natural characteristics after a freak Test last year against India that ended in one day and a half. Both teams are expected to field a spinner, while Pakistan’s bowlers may find more joy, especially in the early stages of the Test, before the surface flattens out. With just two Test victories in South Africa in three decades of playing here, a victory here – and a drawn series – will go down as the most impressive away Test series result in years.

Form guide (last five matches completed, most recent first)

South Africa: WWWWW

Pakistan:LWWLL

In the spotlight

With spin likely to play a bigger role at Newlands than Centurion, Keshav Maharaj returns to the side. But for all Newlands’ supposed accommodation for slower bowling, the left-arm orthodox spinner has a surprisingly indifferent record in Cape Town, managing just 9 wickets in 6 matches at an average above 52. That’s almost double from its average of 30.44 in the South. Africa in general, and Maharaj is coming back from an adductor strain that ruled him out of the ODI series. Whether he can begin to overturn his Newlands record may be an intriguing plot point as the Test develops.

This is not a vintage age for Test cricket openers, and especially not for Pakistan openers. Until the final Test, they had not produced a partnership in 15 all year, but offered a slight glimpse of a turnaround in fortunes with the new duo of Saim Ayub and Shan Masood, with 36 and 49. But neither of the first two managed to get going. either innings, something Masood cited as a point of frustration at Centurion. Against the kind of new world-class bowling attack that South Africa possess at home, runs for the first wicket aren’t exactly easy, but Pakistan desperately need one all the same.

Team News

South Africa announced the changes after the first Test, with Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder and pacey debutant Kwena Maphaka. Opener Tony de Zorzi is suffering from a thigh strain, while fast bowling all-rounders Corbin Bosch and Dane Paterson also fall to the bench.

South Africa: Ryan Rickleton 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Wiaan Mulder (captain), 4 Tristan Stubbs 5 Temba Bavuma (captain) 6 David Bedingham, 7 Kyle Verreynne (week), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj 10 Kagiso Rabada 11 Kwena Maphaka

Pakistan are yet to name an eleven, unsure whether to play Noman Ali or just settle for Salman Ali Agha as their main player.

Pakistan: 1 Shan Masood (captain) 2 Saim Ayub 3 Babar Azam 4 Kamran Ghulam 5 Saud Shakeel 6 Mohammad Rizwan (week) 7 Salman Ali Agha 8 Aamer Jamal/Noman Ali 9 Naseem Shah 10 Mohammad Abbas 11 Khurram Shahzad

Location and conditions

“I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about the wicket,” Temba Bavuma joked at the press conference after the ultra-short Test here last year. There’s less grass on it than Centurion, however, with effects that will come into play later in the test.

Statistics and anecdotes

Keshav Maharaj is seven wickets away from becoming the first South African spinner to take 200 Test wickets.

Among the current batters in the Pakistan side, none have a truly compelling record in South Africa. Babar Azam’s 275 at 34.37 makes him the most prolific, while no active Pakistani has a hundred in this country.

Quotes

“The series is still in play. So even though we checked the box of being in the final, we would still like to be clinical in the series. We are looking at two zeros. Our focus, our motivation is still there. I think that ‘As a team, even though we won last week, we accept that we weren’t at our best when it came to betting and bowling. So in terms of improving in those areas, we would like to. do we see ourselves much better than the week. last. ”
South African captain Temba Bavuma thinks there is still a lot to improve on his side

Danyal Rasool is the Pakistan correspondent for PK Press Club. @Danny61000