Pakistan v South Africa (In U.A.E)

very true comments indeed by sledge on south africa, even I was surprised that they didn't declare today, in fact the moment they lost that first wicket they were defensive. kahmed is also right, you can fear if the opposition has a Sehwag or a Gayle or a Gilchrist in their side who can change the game quite dramatically, Pakistan are not that type of side, even if they give them 270-280 to chase I'm sure pakistan will go for a draw.

nonetheless, the longer the south africans bat the happier we are, I was in my office and was constantly looking at the system clock today and the wickets column on the scorecard tab when Pak were batting, it was like run time run and wickets please don't fall!

Gutsy stuff from Pakistan, I like this for the first time I have seen PAK bat so deep, Sami at 11, boy he is good enough to be a no.8! (may be not good enough with the ball though!) and look at RSA, Morkel at 11!!! even he is good enough to be a no.8.

Sledger is totally right about SA, they are very, very, very conservative when setting totals, they always make sure that there is no way they can lose before they declare.  SA should be belting runs at a faster rate too, don't know why they were slacking around for.

There is no way South African batmen should come out to play today. Pakistan have never scored 320 plus runs in a day's game in my memory - and this team is the least likely to do it. Morkel will have to stand up and pitch the ball up if they are to win. Morkel has not pitched a single ball full - he has bowled too short.

...............and true to form , the South Africans bat on.

Totally nonsensical mate !  Let's hope Pakistan repeat England's Cape Town performance of January - 9 down with a few overs to go and holding on for the draw !
          Did the South Africans learn anything from that match ?

Whatever SA's plan , it isn't working!  47-0 after 14 overs and seeing off Steyn in the process. I just don't see the spin twins (!) of Botha and Harris causing many problems - the batsmen play better spinners at home.

And the fear is fast becoming true. Three down in the space of six deliveries - all LBW. it is South Africa's to lose from here. I cant see Pakistan saving this one now.

 Three without a run being added - if there's any consolation , none of those deliveries turned !

Don't fret kahmad , 153-3 and SA going through the motions - when will SA ever learn ?

what can SA do with the 200+ runs which they saved?

Kallis said it was a good preparation for the Indian series. Pathetic comment really. You should play for the present most of the times.

The curators have to find a mixture of the subcontinent and bouncy wickets from SA, Australia etc. where every team can feel comfortable. In asia only great bowlers are doing well but on bouncy wickets also an average bowler with maybe 130kmh is unplayble for some good asian Batsmen.

I want to say something about the find for Pakistan 'Azhar Ali'. Pakistan have found after a long time someone with that temrament. Even Yousuf, Younus didn't have that at their start. He is really a test material. With Aamer, Asif and Kaneria this side would have done a lot better.

Pakistan finally have found decent openers.

But Atleast he looks better than that crap Farhat or others that Pakistan have tried before.

Let us give some credit to Misbah as well, he took over the captaincy at a very very difficult time and to add to that he ahd to justify his own place in the side. Playing three match saving knocks on a trot to save the series for his country deserves a special mention. Well done Misbah!

Very good comments on Azhar Ali by all... PAK needed a player like him in this middle order... I would go as far as saying that he will be the "Wall" of Pakistan in the future. Well played Azhar!

coming to RSA, well yes they should have declared earlier but still they would not have won, PAK had depth in their batting, Abdur Rahman is an all rounder actually, and Gul, Sami and Tanvir can all bat, so it was never going to be easy... nonetheless defensive stuff by smith but I think he knew that the pitch didn't had much to offer.

PAK take 5 ratings points as a result of this drawn series, while RSA get -3. This also means the gap between India and RSA has further widened.