Pak skipper Babar Azam gives special mention to standout performers post South Africa win

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam heaped praise on the entire team after they registered an emphatic seven-wicket win over South Africa in the first Test at the National Stadium, Karachi on Friday. However, Babar gave special mention to a few of the star performers of the contest for making this victory possible.

'Extremely proud': Babar Azam

Taking to the micro-blogging site, Azam wrote that in this historic Test match, (Pakistan hosting South Africa in a Test match after nearly 14 years), the likes of middle-order batsman Fawad Alam, pacer Faheem Ashraf, former Test skipper Azhar Ali and frontline spinners Nauman Ali as well as Yasir Shah showed what the Men In Green roots for and that is 'determination', 'perseverance' and 'hunger for excellence'.

The number three batsman concluded by mentioning that he is extremely proud of his team.

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The players who made it matter for Pakistan in 1st Test

Pakistan managed to get a 158-run first-innings lead in reply to South Africa's 220 riding on an outstanding century by Fawad Alam after the hosts were reduced to 27/4. He scored 109 on a tough wicket and at the same time, this was also his third Test century. 

The Karachi cricketer also scored the winning boundary for the hosts in their second innings. 

Test specialist Azhar Ali scored 51 when Pak had lost their top-order for hardly anything on the board in their first innings and followed it up with an unbeaten 31 in the second chasing a paltry target of 88. 

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Faheem Ashraf might have gone wicketless in the first innings but bowled at an impressive economy rate of 2.4 as he contained the run flow by giving away just 12 runs. The 27-year-old medium-pacer did not succeed in picking up a single wicket in the second innings either but conceded just nine runs from his eight overs at an economy rate of 0.89.

Left-arm spinner Nauman Ali finished with figures of 2/38 in his first innings and then went on to register a fifer in the second with bowling figures that read 5/35.

Ali's spin bowling partner Yasir Shah succeeded in making the ball do the talking as well with figures of 3/54 in the first innings and 4/79 in the second. 

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