Younis Khan smashed an unbeaten 93 yesterday to give Pakistan hope of chasing down a huge fourth innings target in the first Test against South Africa.
Set a target of 424 to win in four sessions, Pakistan moved to 146-3 by stumps on the fourth day, thanks to Khan's aggressive batting which included 14 boundaries.
The home team requires a further 278 runs in a minimum 90 overs to be bowled today at National Stadium -- a venue where it has lost just one out of 39 Test matches.
PHOTO: AFP
No team in Test history has successfully chased such a large fourth-inning target. West Indies holds the record of the highest ever chase when it defeated Australia at Antigua in 2003 by scoring 418 runs.
South Africa declared its second innings at 264-7 at tea, shortly after Jacques Kallis completed his second century of the match and then made early inroads into Pakistan.
Paceman Dale Steyn (2-44) removed both openers cheaply before Faisal Iqbal (44) and Khan joined in a 114-run partnership off 145 balls. Left-arm spinner Paul Harris got the much needed breakthrough 21 balls before stumps when Faisal gloved an easy catch and departed after hitting eight boundaries.
Khan raced on to complete his run-a-ball half century with eight boundaries. He then scored successive boundaries off reverse sweeps before hoisting captain Graeme Smith for a big six in the same over.
Kallis became the first South African since Gary Kirsten in 1996 to score centuries in both innings of a Test. The only other South Africans to do so were Alan Melville and Bruce Mitchell, both against England in 1947.
South Africa resumed at the overnight score of 76-3, and Kallis and Ashwell Prince (45) took the total to 131 before Pakistan got two breakthroughs in the space of seven deliveries just before lunch.
The partnership added 88 runs in two hours and 10 minutes before Prince dragged on Danish Kaneria's delivery that pitched on the rough, bounced and hit the top of off stump.
A.B. De Villiers was then baffled by Rehman's sharp turning delivery which clipped the off-stump as the right-hander tried to play an on drive and missed the line of the ball.
Kallis hit just four boundaries in his 201-ball innings that lasted nearly five hours. After the loss of Prince and De Villiers, he got able late support from Andre Nel (33) and Mark Boucher (29) with whom he shared half-century partnerships.
Rehman added four more wickets to his first innings haul of 4-105 to end up his debut Test with eight wickets.
Middle order batsman Owais Shah scored 82 to lift England to a modest 234-8 in the second one-day international against Sri Lanka yesterday.
Shah rescued England from a slow start sharing important partnerships of 78 with Paul Collingwood (42) for the fifth-wicket and then 70 with Graham Swann (34).
The 28-year-old displayed great skill and application during a 92-ball innings that included five boundaries.
Sri Lanka's bowlers had started well after England chose to bat first, making early inroads and then bowling consistently straight on another sluggish Dambulla pitch. Opener Alastair Cook fell first, brilliantly caught by a diving Mahela Jayawardene at first slip having edged a Chaminda Vaas outswinger after scoring just one run.
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