First hour today to be decisive, says Elgar

KARACHI: South Africa’s Dean Elgar on Tuesday said that the first hour of the second day’s play on Wednesday (today) could decide the result of their first Test match against Pakistan.

“Yes, the first hour tomorrow will be important,” he told a virtual news conference.

“If we can emulate the way we started with the ball this evening . . . we will put a lot of pressure and have chances come our way,” he added.

Elgar was the only South African batsman to show some confidence. He scored 58 while opening the innings.

“The game has sped up so quickly because 14 wickets have fallen,” he was quick to add.

After being bowled for just 220, Proteas came back strongly in the game and finished the day one in a strong position when they reduced Pakistan to 33-4 in just 18 overs with Rabada making inroads by removing openers Abid Ali (4) and debutant Imran Butt (9).

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj then got the crucial wicket of Babar Azam (7), trapped lbw, before Anrich Nrotje sent back night watch-man Shaheen Afridi (0).

“Knowing the pacers we have, they are going to bring the intensity. That is something they pride themselves on and work very hard on,” he said.

“That is how they have been preparing when they have bowled to us in the nets. We need to start well tomorrow, give them very few scoring options, and keep the pressure on them,” he said.

Elgar admitted that they wasted their starts that caused the low total in the end as the pitch was looking good in the beginning. “It's an under-par score,” he said. “It was a good chance for us to score aggressively and get some easy runs,” he said.

“There was a bit of risk to the nature of our play in the first hour but as it worked out we only lost two wickets by lunch. I thought we were in a fairly good position. With the sub-continent having its tricks we found ourselves five or six down after lunch,” Elgar said.

“No doubt we did not perform up to the potential in our batting but the pitch is going to turn and we will try to exploit it as we have some good spin options,” said Elgar.