South Africa’s Elgar says his side was on 'top' against Pakistan on day one

KARACHI: South Africa’s opener Dean Elgar said Tuesday that his side was on the top at end of the first Test against Pakistan in Karachi, despite being bowled out for an under-par score.

Speaking to media via online conference, the 33-year-old Proteas player said that his team will "try to get the remaining six wickets as quickly as possible to get a sizeable lead against Pakistan."

“I do think South Africa had the better day even though it was a very low score in the first innings for us. It could have gone either way with maybe 40 for naught, and then we would really have been in a bad position on day two. Now talking about tomorrow, that we only need six wickets, we will try not to repeat our mistakes and will try to get a sizeable lead in the game,” he added.

“I almost had a feeling that we had to start well against seamers because of the nature of the wicket. So I thought it was a good opportunity for us to try and score quickly as if I could say that, just knowing that they might slow down,” said Elgar – who scored 58 runs in today's match.

He added that going into lunch he thought South Africa was in a very good position but then they lost quick wickets straight after lunch.

Responding to a question, Elgar said that the first hour on day two will be important for both sides as "it may decide the course of the game."

“I think if we can try and emulate how we started with a ball this evening, if we can really knuckle down and do that first hour, I think we can put a lot of pressure. We know the importance of the first hour,” he added.

The South African batsman added that he knew that the wicket was going to be a bit slower in the later part but he wasn’t expecting it to be 14-wickets-in-a-day, accepting that there were some soft dismissals on both sides.

“Hopefully, we take six wickets early tomorrow and will bat again,” he concluded.