RSA VS PAK - 2nd Test, Pakistan tour of South Africa, 2018-19

Pakistan had their moments in the game with both bat and ball and the result could have been different had they grabbed them. Sarfraz was clear with his statement when he said the team needed to come early to tours like these and play more practice games. Hope the PCB is all ears to the captain. South Africa have now won seven successive Test series at home. We move to Johannesburg for the final game of the series. The pitch at the Wanderers is generally good for pacers again with a lot of bounce. Two quality bowling attacks should only make the watching spicier. Can't wait for January 11. The game begins at 10:00 local time. Catchya there!

Faf(2/2): "However exeperienced you may be, if you don't score runs in one game, you still feel the pressure in the next game. I felt last year I batted the best in a long time, but to go through a pair and all of a sudden the mental game starts coming in. A few doubts, a few negative thoughts. For me before the start of this game, I wanted to block out that noise. I wanted to be in a good mental space. You think the experienced players are untouchable when it comes to things like these, but we also humanly go through thought patterns like that. For me it was a true test of my character. Under pressure the thing that I go to is my character, that's generally when the best comes out of me and I am happy I managed to do well."

Faf du Plessis (Man of the Match) (1/2): "Finally got a hundred at my favourite ground. Amazing place to play cricket with the mountains around and the crowd is amazing as well. I have wanted it (the hundred) for a while. It was a grafty hundred. It's a lot of fun for us coming here. We beat the big teams that have come here, all of them have come with good bowling attacks. Obviously Day 1 was tough, but it got easier to bat on Day 2 and 3. There was enough in it for everyone. At times it was difficult, but that's Test cricket. We wanted to finish last night, but unfortunately that no ball spoiled it a bit for us (smiles). Playing a subcontinental team on a pitch that has picked up pace over the last two years, it was an easy call to make that we wanted four seamers. In the last three years, the opposition has batted only for about 70 overs. Your spinners are not going to bowl that much in 70 overs."

Sarfraz: "We didn't get enough runs in the first innings. Maybe close to 250-300 would have been good because the pitch is still good for fast bowlers. It's hard to recover if you are losing five wickets in the first two hours, but the way the batsmen batted in the second innings was courageous. That's how you learn. I think if we played 2 or 3 practice matches prior to the series it would have been helpful for us. If you look back, in 2016 we played two practice matches against Somerset and Surrey and our position was different (Pakistan drew 2-2 in the 4-match Test series against England). But we played only one match here and we couldn't really acclimatize. Our batsmen showed courage here in the second innings, so hopefully they are confident and we will do well at the Wanderers."

So it's a 9-wicket win for the hosts. Such a complete performance from Faf and Co. to win the series with a game to go. They won the toss and bowled very well to knock over Pakistan cheaply. The captain then led from the front with a hundred in the first innings with fifties from Markram, Bavuma and de Kock ensuring a really good lead. Pakistan replied back with great fight, but only three batsman (Shan Masoon, Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam) applied themselves. They could have had more to defend had they batted sensibly and that would have given them a better chance in this game. This could have gotten over yesterday had Philander not overstepped when Abbas was caught with just about 20 runs for a victory. The tailenders had fun and pushed the game into the final day.

Azhar Ali to Elgar, FOUR, that's it, Elgar pulls this short ball to fine leg and South Africa take a 2-0 lead in the 3-match series. Faf hugs Elgar as they complete the victory

Azhar Ali to Elgar, FOUR, Elgar smashes this over the bowler's head for a boundary, Azhar Ali was ducking for cover, overpitched and punished really hard

Azhar Ali to Elgar, no run, knocked into the on-side

Azhar Ali is normally a leggie, but he's bowling medium pace now

Azhar Ali to Elgar, no run, outside off stump, left alone, he wants rush through the over

Azhar Ali to Elgar, no run, good length delivery outside off stump, Elgar beats the bat first up, the batsman wanted to defend, the ball jags away. For some reason he's running back to his mark as if the over rate is an issue

Azhar Ali, right-arm leg break, comes into the attack

Amir to du Plessis, no run, short and on the leg stump, du Plessis lets it go

Amir to du Plessis, no run, short of length delivery on the stumps, du Plessis tries to defend off the back foot, the ball rolls to gully off the edge

Amir to du Plessis, no run, shortish delivery outside off stump, du Plessis hops and defends

Amir to Elgar, 1 run, shortish delivery on the leg stump, Elgar pulls it to fine leg

Amir to Elgar, no run, short delivery, Elgar sways out

Amir to Elgar, FOUR, in the airrr but this one has evaded the keeper. Short delivery on the leg stump, Elgar tries to pull, gloves it in the air and got enough on the ball to clear the Pakistani captain

Mohammad Abbas to Elgar, 1 run, length delivery on the leg stump, Elgar flicks it to deep square leg

Mohammad Abbas to Elgar, 2 runs, shortish delivery from Mohammad Abbas, Elgar pulls it to deep mid-wicket