“We’ll come back mentally stronger,” said Proteas skipper, Quinton de Kock, after losing the first Test of the two-match series to Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi.

While South Africa were ahead of Pakistan at the end of the first day, De Kock said it was not where the Proteas had aimed to be. 

De Kock attributed this defeat to the inability of South Africa’s batsmen to score heavily in the first innings. “In the first innings, we gave them our wickets. We tried to get scoring. When they (Pakistan) batted, they got stuck in,” explained De Kock.

Getting set before accelerating the run rate was a lesson the Proteas learned in the second innings, as Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen demonstrated with a 127-run partnership.

However, de Kock refused to lay blame on the Proteas bowlers for not being able to trouble the Pakistani batsmen significantly. De Kock said, “They weren’t going at a big run-rate for most of the first innings. We kept the pressure on.” 

De Kock believes the Proteas’ batting troubles are not a product of their mental struggles against spin. While the Proteas’ shot selection let them down in the first innings, the Pakistani spinners landed the ball consistently in the same areas, and were ultimately rewarded for their hard work. 

Meanwhile, Babar Azam credited Fawad Alam’s century for putting Pakistan in a dominant position at the end of the first innings, after which they could push for a win. Azam was mightily impressed by the character Fawad Alam and Azhar Ali showed as they rebuilt a foundation for Pakistan on a challenging pitch, after which Faheem Ashraf scored an aggressive fifty to swing the momentum in Pakistan’s favour.

Having recorded a win in his first game as captain, Azam credited the entire team for this victory. Expecting different conditions in Rawalpindi, Azam and team management will make selection decisions closer to the beginning of the second Test.