Pakistan had an injury scare when opening batter Saim Ayub twisted his right ankle on the field as South Africa reached 72-3 at lunch on day 1 of the second and final test on Friday.
Ayub fell awkwardly in the outfield and was visibly in lot of pain as he received brief treatment on the ground before he was rushed to a hospital for precautionary scans.
The Pakistan team management said an update on the extent of Ayub’s injury “will be provided in due course.”
South Africa, which has already sealed its place in June’s World Test Championship final with a dramatic two-wicket win in the first test at Centurion inside four days, lost three wickets for nine runs in the latter half of first session after getting a promising start of 61.
Ryan Rickleton completed his half century in the last over before lunch and was unbeaten on 50, but off-spinner Salman Ali Agha pegged the home team further when he had Tristan Stubbs caught behind for zero which gave wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan his third catch of the morning session.
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South Africa settled in well despite Aiden Markram surviving a close lbw off Mohammad Abbas’ first ball after skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat on a dry wicket.
Rickleton batted aggressively against an all-pace attack but Markram looked shaky in his 17-run knock off 44 balls and was also dropped at covers by Ayub’s substitute Abdullah Shafique. However, the lapse didn’t cost Pakistan as Khurram Shahzad broke the opening stand when he found the inside edge of Markram’s bat.
Wiaan Mulder, one of the three changes South Africa made from its Centurion playing XI, fell to Abbas when the seamer found the thick outside edge before Agha got rid of Stubbs at stoke of lunch interval.
Kwena Maphaka was among the three changes the Proteas made as the fast bowler became the youngest South African to make his test debut. At 18 years, 270 days, Maphaka broke the record of Paul Adams, who played his first test against England in 1995 at the age of 18 years, 340 days.
The home team, which has six successive test wins, opted to go with the express pace of Maphaka in place of Dane Paterson, who was dropped after picking up his second successive five-wicket haul at Centurion.
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Corbin Bosch was left out after making a stunning test debut in the first test where he took a wicket with his first ball and then made a scintillating unbeaten half century in the first innings which gave South Africa a match-winning lead of 90 runs.
Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj has recovered from a groin injury and replaced Bosch. Opening batter Tony de Zorzi had a thigh strain and was replaced by Mulder as the all-rounder recovered from a finger injury and returned to the playing XI.
Pakistan, which has won just two of its last nine test matches in this WTC cycle, once again went without a specialist spinner. It rested fast bowler Naseem Shah and brought in left-arm fast bowler Mir Hamza.