South Africa Vs Pakistan, 1st Test Day 4 Highlights: Proteas Win By Two Wickets In Centurion, Become First Team To Qualify For WTC Final 2025

South Africa (Playing XI): Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma(c), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson

Pakistan (Playing XI): Shan Masood(c), Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas

There will be no early start on Day 4 of the Boxing Day Test in Centurion. However, there will be an extended session to compensate the lost overs of yesterday's play. The play of Day 4 will start at the scheduled time of 1:30 pm IST.

Mohammad Abbas opened the attack with the ball for Pakistan and Temba Bavuma along with Aiden Markram took the guard. Bavuma managed to hit a boundary in the first over of the day. The chase is on!

RSA - 35/3 (11)

Pakistan captain Shan Masood has introduced the first change after 15 overs. Naseem Shah replaced Khurram Shahzad but Mohammad Abbas continued from the other end. Pakistan desperately need a wicket here.

RSA - 50/3 (17)

South African batters are making runs and reaching their target slowly. Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma have shown no hurry in collecting runs. Proteas are still 87 runs behind and Pakistan need seven more wickets.

RSA - 62/3 (23)

Mohammad Abbas did it again! He bowled a peach delivery to dismiss the set batter Aiden Markram. Temba Bavuma is joined by David Bedingham and the duo is looking good in the middle.

RSA - 81/4 (27)

Mohammad Abbas dismissed the set batter Temba Bavuma to take Pakistan back into the game. He got him caught behind. There was nothing on the ultra-edge but Bavuma didn't reviewed it.

RSA - 97/5 (30)

Naseem Shah bowled the wicketkeeper batter Kyle Verreynne in the next over to make things complicated for the hosts. Mohammad Abbas came again and dismissed David Bedingham and Corbin Bosch on the back-to-back deliveries to make South Africa eight wickets down.

RSA - 104/8 (32)

Mohammad Abbas has bowled 17 overs on the trot and managed to pick six wickets. The umpires have called for the lunch break. Pakistan need only two more wickets and South Africa still need 32 runs. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada are batting with Dane Paterson to come at number 11. This is an opportunity for Pakistan to seal the match after lunch.

RSA - 116/8 (34)

Naseem Shah came to bowl the first over after the lunch break and he started with a no ball. He conceded four runs. Abbas continued his attack from the other end and gave just one run.

RSA - 121/8 (36)

Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen added quick runs in no time to make the chase more interesting. They need just two more runs to win this match. Pakistan, on the other hand, need two wickets. It's two runs vs two wickets now.

RSA - 144/8 (39)

Proteas have won the match! Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen added 50 runs for the ninth wicket to win the match. Jansen hit the winning runs as he smashed the ball to the boundary when only two runs were needed to win the match. With this win, South Africa also qualified for the final of the WTC for the first time.

RSA - 150/8 (39.3)

Pretty relieved, that was really tense, to get on the right side is a big thing for us, to get past the winning mark and make it to the WTC final is a big relief for us. Today was the most important knock (compared to the first innings). I would've loved to be there at the end, but it didn't work that way. The wicket changes (at Centurion), the options and the game plans need to be changed (as a batter). You need to be clinical ( as a team on victories), but you take these wins and go ahead at times. I'm not the one for milestones to be honest, I'm not going to make or break any records, but it's about making an impact and contributing to wins for South Africa. It was challenging (on the pitch), I'm fortunate to have played cricket where while growing up, you're never in on this wicket, it's up and down and it's challenging, batting can be very tricky at times, happy that it came off well this time.

Extremely proud of the team. Going forward, we need to be ruthless. We were in a reasonable position twice. We could have extended the target while batting. We have pointed out things. We lost wickets in a cluster. We had them 8 down twice in both the innings. We could have had the extra cushion when Jamal and Shakeel were in yesterday. I am a huge believer in learning. We have to get over the line. We have to seize those moments. We have been making those same mistakes. You want an effort like that of Abbas. Saud should have gotten a hundred had we batted better.

Quite an emotional moment for me. Lot of joy and happiness on our side. We did the hard way. But glad we won. I was still sulking. Aiden get them going. Wasn't a lot of conversations. We still had the confidence. I didn't come out to the viewing area. It is a big one. Not just for myself. But for the coaches. The way we started our campaign against India. We weren't given much of a chance. We weren't ruthless. But we kept finding ways. We hope the guys can get confidence from performances like these. Guys get picked on when they do badly. We would like to enjoy the moment and take stock of what we have done.

6/54 - Mohammad Abbas, Centurion, 2024
6/78 - Mushtaq Ahmed, Durban, 1998
6/78 - Waqar Younis, Gqeberha, 1998
6/96 - Saeed Ajmal, Cape Town, 2013
6/120 - Tanveer Ahmed, Abu Dhabi, 2010

South Africa became the first team of this WTC cycle to qualify for the final after registering a thrilling victory in Centurion on Sunday. That's all from our side. Goodbye and take care!