LAHORE: Captain Shan Masood on Wednesday urged his team-mates to improve in order to achieve consistency after his team beat South Africa in the first Test to launch the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) in style.

Pakistan downed Aiden Markram and his men by 93 runs on a predominantly spin-friendly track here at the Gaddafi Stadium during the second session of the fourth day on Wednesday to take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.

“Our focus has always been on improving the team. We have made a good start to the World Test Championship and our team is also playing good cricket but the real challenge is to show consistency in winning mat­ches to reach top in the WTC,” Shan, under whose captaincy Pakistan won their fourth Test as they lost nine, said during his post-match media conference at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Answering a question regarding brittleness of Pakistan’s batting line-up during the first Test where the host were dismissed for a paltry 167 in the second innings, Shan acknowledged that it was worrying.

“[Our] batters did well enough but we still have a lot of challenges in the middle order. We lost five wickets for 16 runs in the first innings and six wickets for only 17 in the second which is not good; we must overcome that,” the skipper said while praising slow left-arm spinner Noman Ali and pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi for their impressive show in the Test.

Left-arm spinner Noman claimed 10 wickets in the match and in the process surpassed legendary leg-spinner Abdul Qadir by taking 46 wickets in a span of five Tests (16-20). Qadir took 44 wickets in five Test during 1987-88. It was 39-year-old Noman’s third 10-wicket haul in his 20th Test.

The Pakistan bowlers smothered South African batting that continued to struggle on a spinning pitch.

Man-of-the-match Noman claimed four for 79 — to end the match with figures of 10-191 — while Shaheen recorded a 4-33 show as the world Test champions were folded for a paltry 183 in 60.5 overs while looking to chase 277. Off-spinner Sajid Khan grabbed 2-38.

Having resumed their innings at 51-2, the tourists kept losing wickets and were eventually dismissed almost an hour after the lunch break as Pakistan’s 109-run lead in the first innings proved vital.

Two early wickets loss had dented South Africa’s hopes early in the morning session. Shaheen trapped Tony de Zorzi (16), the first-innings centurion, as the ball kept slightly low in the very first over of the day.

Tristan Stubbs (two) became Noman’s third victim of the innings as the right-handed while needlessly attempting a reverse sweep got a thin edge to be caught by Salman Ali Agha in the first slip as South Africa slumped to 55-4.

Opener Ryan Rickelton (45) at the other end found a reliable partner in Dewald Brevis (54) as they tried to rescue the tourists. The 22-year-old Brevis, playing his third Test, took the lead role as the pair added 73 off just 84 balls. Brevis struck six fours and two sixes.

At the total of 60, Rickelton survived a stumping chance as Mohammad Rizwan failed to grab the ball, while the batter was well outside the crease.

After South Africa reached the 100 mark in 34.2 overs, right-handed Brevis completed his maiden half-century off just 51 balls.

Noman finally broke the partnership as the wily spinner cleaned up Brevis with an absolute beauty to leave South Africa tottering at 128-5.

Then came the moment that brought Pakistan to the brink of victory as Rickelton was sent back to the pavilion, caught sharply by Salman – his third of the innings at first slip off Sajid whose ball straightened before taking the edge of the bat.

At 134-6 with the top six back in the hut, South Africa’s route to victory had become tough.

A few minutes after lunch, South Africa lost their seventh wicket when Senuran Muthusamy (six) was adjudged leg before wicket off Sajid at the total of 144.

Verreynne with Simon Harmer crossed the 150-run mark in 54.1 overs as the target now looked a distant dream for South Africa.

Shaheen in his second spell trapped Verreynne (19) before ending the innings in his next over with wickets of Prenelan Subrayen (eight) and Kagiso Rabada, both of whom were yorked beautifully.

It was Pakistan’s seventh Test victory against South Africa, who are still far ahead in head-to-head record with 17 wins in a total of 31 matches.

Markram lauded Pakistan’s performance in the series opener, underlining the hosts’ batting — which enabled Shan’s men to take a crucial 109-run lead — in the first innings made the difference.

“Pakistan had a really good partnership in the first innings when we had them five wickets down [for 199],” Markram said of the 163-run partnership between Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha for the sixth wicket.

“We probably could have scored a few more runs in the first innings but I am proud of the way we fought.

“But we need to clean up our game and come back better in the next match.”

Markram was of the view that if opener Rickelton had stayed a little longer on Wednesday, the result could have been different.

The second Test will be held at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi from Oct 20-24.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 378 (Imam-ul-Haq 93, Salman Ali Agha 93; S. Muthusamy 6-117)

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 269 (T. de Zorzi 104,

R. Rickelton 71; Noman Ali 6-112)

PAKISTAN (2nd Innings) 167 (Babar Azam 42;

S. Muthusamy 5-57, S. Harmer 4-51)

SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings, overnight 51-2):

R. Rickelton c Salman b Sajid 45

A. Markram b Noman 3

W. Mulder c Salman b Noman 0

T. de Zorzi lbw Shaheen 16

T. Stubbs c Salman b Noman 2

D. Brevis b Noman 54

K. Verreynne lbw Shaheen 19

S. Muthusamy lbw Sajid 6

S. Harmer not out 14

P. Subrayen b Shaheen 8

K. Rabada b Shaheen 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-8, NB-4) 16

TOTAL (all out, 60.5 overs) 183

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 (Markram), 2-18 (Mulder), 3-51 (de Zorzi), 4-55 (Stubbs), 5-128 (Brevis), 6-134 (Rickelton), 7-144 (Muthusamy), 8-173 (Verreynne), 9-183 (Subrayen)

BOWLING: Hasan 6-0-14-0, Noman 28-4-79-4 (3nb), Sajid 14-1-38-2, Salman 4-1-7-0, Shaheen 8.5-1-33-4 (1nb)

RESULT: Pakistan won by 93 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Noman Ali

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2025