PAK vs SA 1st Test: The test series between Pakistan and South Africa continues under Shan Masood’s captaincy. It started on 26 December. Pakistan set a target of 148 runs in its last innings, but South Africa lost 8 wickets and chased the target.
On the last day of the test, South Africa lost 8 wickets for only 98 runs, which made it seem difficult to reach the target, which was 60 runs away. There were lots of balls remaining, but they had only 2 wickets remaining to complete the target. Pakistan’s planning flopped when Rabada was on the crease to score more runs and save the wicket.
His counter-attack added one more win in history against Pakistan. This was South Africa’s last winning test match at the end of 2024—they will play the next test match on 3-7 January. In the first inning, the Pakistan team was all out on 211 runs—Kamran Ghulam scored 54 runs, and Aamir Jamal scored 28 runs, remaining the top scorer in the first inning. In the second inning, South Africa was all out on 301 runs with a lead of 90 runs.
Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan
The 3rd inning of Pakistan didn’t set a high lead for SA, the whole team was all out on 237 and set a target of 148 runs – in this inning, Kamran Ghulam 84 and Babar Azam scored 50 runs. SA struggling to win the test match to secure the World Test Championship (WTC) final. While facing Pakistan in the 4th inning, South Africa chased the target of 148 runs by losing 8 wickets.
Pak vs SA: Struggles of Rabada and Jansen
The match was interesting in the last moments when South Africa lost 8 wickets on only 98 runs – that was seemed the match was in the hands of Pakistan and the victory was decided. But the efforts of Rabada and Jansen got the success for the team and the team is now in the WTC final.
Aiden Markram and Cobrin Bosch were the top batsmen in the team to score high runs, in the last inning when South Africa in trouble and had lost all eight wickets. The remaining two wickets of Rabada and Jansen till fight the victory. They both can manage the pressure when the team is in a difficult situation.
Pakistan Bowling: Pakistani pacers and spinners didn’t give any chance to African batsmen to set high scores. The pacer Muhammad Abbas got (7), Naseem Shah (4), Khurram Shahzad (4), and Aamir Jamal (2) while Saim Ayub got (1) wicket in all innings of 1st test match.
Africa Bowling: The most wicket-taker in all innings was Dane Paterson (6), Marco Jansen (7), and Corbin Bosch (5) and they remained the top wicket-taker bowler against Pakistan.
Muhammad Abbas’ Comeback
After being absent from the team for many years, Muhammad Abbas gave a brilliant performance against South Africa, taking 6-wicket in the last inning pushing in-trouble to South Africa. He remained absent from the team for three years – the reason unveiled that his bowling is slow under 140/kph it also shared that due to a shoulder injury, he was dropped from the team according to the news website.
What is the World Test Championship (WTC)?
The World Test Championship concept was given by Clive Lloyd former cricket and manager of West Indies cricket team – then later it was discussed between MCC and ICC to form Test Championship. After meetings and decisions, the first tournament was played in 2019 but due to Covid-19, the tournament was cancelled.
The current situation is very interesting for South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Australia. Through this victory South Africa has taken place in the WTC final while India is in a frustrating moment – India is in favour of Pakistan to win the remaining test matches from South Africa.
South Africa Qualified for the WTC Final
By defeating Pakistan, South Africa has secured the position in the World Test Championship final. In the WTC table, South Africa is in the first position after winning the test series with New Zealand and now has qualified by beating Pakistan in the first test.
Following this, the remaining two test matches against Pakistan can boost the rank on the WTC table. If Pakistan defeats SA in both matches, this will positively impact India’s rankings in the WTC table, making it possible for India to qualify for the WTC final position.
Will Pakistan Play in the WTC Final?
That may not be possible for Pakistan to qualify for the WTC final – because the four teams are in the top-four list. Pakistan is on 7th number in test team rankings, so Pakistan may not secure the WTC which is happening from 11 – 15 June 2025 at Lord, England.
To understand the WTC final structure, let’s know here the test ranking team’s list according to the ICC Test Cricket Team’s ranking.
| Team | Points | Percentage % |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 88 | 66.67 |
| Australia | 188 | 61.46 |
| India | 114 | 52.78 |
| New Zealand | 81 | 48.21 |
| Ser Lanka | 60 | 45.45 |
| England | 114 | 43.18 |
| Bangladesh | 45 | 31.25 |
| Pakistan | 40 | 31.25 |
| West Indies | 32 | 24.24 |