Pakistan continued their remarkable turnaround in home Test matches as they defeated world champions South Africa in the first Test in Lahore on Wednesday.
Left-arm spinner Noman Ali and off-spinner Sajid Khan were on target once again as they snared six wickets between them, while left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi decimated the lower order to complete a 93-run victory.
Noman registerd a 10-wicket haul and pacer Afridi took the last three wickets as South Africa, who were 51-2 overnight, were dismissed for 183 in the middle session.
Noman followed his six-wicket haul in the first innings with 4-79 in the second as South Africa were undone by Pakistan's new-found mastery over low and slow surfaces.
The left-arm spinner took the vital wicket of Dewald Brevis, who had briefly challenged the 277-run target with run-a-ball 54.
Off-spinner Sajid ended Ryan Rickelton’s long vigil just before the lunch interval when Salman Agha held on to yet another low catch in the slips. Rickleton faced 145 deliveries for 45 runs.
Earlier, Afridi struck off the third ball after South Africa resumed on 51-2. Tony de Zorzi (16), who scored a century in the first innings, was undone by a sharp incoming delivery that thudded into his back leg.
Tristan Stubbs (two) continued to struggle on an abrasive wicket that gave help to spinners from the first day before he got a leading edge off Noman and gave a catch to Agha in the slips.
Brevis and Rickelton tried to get the chase back on track with a 73-run stand off 98 balls but both fell inside the final half-hour before lunch to give Pakistan a clear advantage.
Afridi then returned to finish off the tail in double quick time. He had wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne trapped lbw before rattling the stumps of tailenders Prenelan Subrayen and Kagiso Rabada in the same over to complete victory.
Afridi finished with 4-33 from 8.5 overs after coming late into the attack. After the match, captain Shan Masood singled out Afridi for his spell with the old ball.
"The spinners took the largest share of wickets, but Shaheen Afridi was really sharp, getting the ball to reverse," he said.
"The spell today from Shaheen was very heartening. He got his pace up, got the ball to do stuff, and that's one more armour in our bowling attack. Historically, we've always played on such surfaces and produced fast bowlers that have gotten wickets, so we've always wanted reverse swing to be in play."
It marked another significant win in Test matches at home for Pakistan. Since late last year, Pakistan have played their home matches on very slow and low pitches - a clear departure from the flat surfaces where teams would bat on for days.
This strategy has reaped rich dividends. Since the Multan Test against England last October, Pakistan have won four matches and lost just once.
What has aided this strategy is the presence of world-class spinners in Noman and Sajid who bowl a bulk of the overs from the first day itself, providing Pakistan significant control over the scoring rate and allowing pressure to build.
The match, however, was set up by the first innings when Pakistan's top order made significant contributions throughout to help put up an above par score of 378.
Fifties from captain Masood, wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan and knocks of 93 from opener Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Agha helped the team make the most of the conditions.
The second Test will be played in Rawalpindi next week and if Pakistan continue the same form, they stand to gain an unprecedented full points from the two-match series against the reigning Test champions.
