Rabada's entertaining half-century puts SA in driver's seat against Pakistan at Rawalpindi (Day 3, Stumps)

Rawalpindi [Pakistan], October 22 (ANI): An explosive half-century by pacer Kagiso Rabada at number 11 handed South Africa a massive advantage as they got a 71-run first innings lead and ended the day three of the second Test against Pakistan with four opposition wickets under their belt at Rawalpindi on Wednesday.

At the end of the day's play, Pakistan was 94/4, with Babar Azam (49*) heading towards a half-century and Mohammed Rizwan (16*) unbeaten at the other end.

SA had started the day three at 185/4, with Tristan Stubbs (68*) and Kyle Verreyne (10*) unbeaten. In the first innings, opting to bat first, Pakistan had put 333 runs on the board thanks to half-centuries from skipper Shan Masood (87), Saud Shakeel (66) and Abdullah Shafique (57).

The day started well for Pakistan with early strikes from Asif Afridi (6/79), which reduced SA to 235/8. Stubbs (76 in 205 balls, with six fours and a six) and Verryne (10) could not add much, but Senuran Muthusamy (89* in 155 balls, with eight fours) bailed Proteas out of trouble with a 71-run stand with Keshav Maharaj (30 in 53 balls, with three fours), taking them past the 300-run mark.

Rabada's return started some real fun for the Proteas as he audaciously took down the premium pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi and the scary spin duo of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali with some entertaining fours and sixes, bringing up his first-ever professional cricket half-century in 38 balls.

This was the second-fastest fifty by a number 11 in Tests, below Shane Shillingford's 25-ball fifty against New Zealand in 2014. By the time Asif got rid of him for 71 in 61 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes each, he had smashed the fifth-highest score by a number 11 in Test cricket (the highest being by Australia's Ashton Agar, 98 against England in 2013) and the 400-run mark was breached. SA, all out at 404, had a 71-run lead.

Simon Harmer (3/26) and Rabada struck early, removing the top-order of Imam, Shafique and Masood for single digits, reducing Pakistan to 16/3. However, by stumps, Babar (49* in 83 balls, with four boundaries) helped Pakistan to a slender lead with Rizwan standing at the other end. (ANI)

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