By Mark Ogagan
South Africa on Sunday edged Pakistan in a tense two-wicket win in Centurion, near Pretoria, to seal a place in next year’s World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Jansen (16 not out) overshadowed Abbas’s brilliant figures of 6-54 on Sunday with a square driven boundary against the fast bowler as South Africa reached 150-8 just after lunch on Day 4 and escaped with a close win in the opener of the two-match series.
Abbas, making a comeback after more than three years in the Test wilderness, had knocked back South Africa’s tricky chase of 148 runs in a marathon 13-over spell before lunch as the home team limped to 99-8, losing four wickets for three runs.
However, Kagiso Rabada changed gears in an unbroken 51-run stand with Jansen and made an unbeaten 31 off 26 balls with five fours to seal a memorable victory and denied Pakistan its first Test win in South Africa in almost 18 years.
South Africa had started this WTC cycle with a 1-1 drawn series against India before getting swept 2-0 in New Zealand. But since then, the Proteas have beaten the West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to stay on top of the table.
The second Test begins in Cape Town on Friday.
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