South Africa arrived in Pakistan on a 10-match Test winning streak. They left Lahore with that streak broken. Senuran Muthusamy took 11 wickets in the match a genuine career-best haul. His team still lost.
Weeks later, in the T20I decider, Pakistan needed just 140 runs. That should have been routine. Instead, an early wicket forced Babar Azam into a slow, controlled build 17 off his first 12 balls, accelerating gradually to an unbeaten-feeling 68 off 43 before finally falling.
This is the full scorecard breakdown of South Africa’s 2025-26 tour of Pakistan the streak that ended, the bowler who dominated and still lost, and the chase that revealed exactly how Pakistan win close matches.
Tour Overview: Test and T20I Results at a Glance
| Match | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Test | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | Pakistan won by 93 runs |
| 1st T20I | — | Series opener |
| 2nd T20I | — | Series levelled 1-1 |
| 3rd T20I (Decider) | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | Pakistan won by 4 wickets |
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A team that ends a 10-match Test winning streak and then closes out a tense T20I decider in the same tour isn’t winning by accident this is a pattern worth tracking heading into any future series between these two sides.
1st Test Gaddafi Stadium: Ending South Africa’s 10-Match Winning Streak
Pakistan’s First Innings: Babar’s 42 and the Spin Setup
Pakistan won the toss, batted first, and were bowled out for 167, with Babar Azam top-scoring on 42. South Africa’s bowling was led by Senuran Muthusamy, who took 5 for 57, and Simon Harmer, who added 4 for 51 the two spinners doing almost all the damage on a Gaddafi Stadium pitch already showing signs of turn.
What most people miss here is the significance of a total this modest still ending up as a match-winning score. Pakistan’s spin attack simply needed to be better than South Africa’s and it was.
De Zorzi’s Century vs Muthusamy’s 11-Wicket Haul
South Africa replied with 269, built around Tony de Zorzi’s 104, His second Test century, and second specifically in subcontinent conditions. Pakistan’s spinners countered hard: Noman Ali took 6 for 112 and Sajid Khan took 3 for 98, giving Pakistan a 109-run first-innings lead.
Here’s the counterintuitive part of this Test: Muthusamy finished the match with 11 wickets for 174 runs the fourth-best match haul by a South African spinner in history. A bowler delivering a career-defining performance and still ending up on the losing side is rare, and it tells you everything about how thin the margin was between individual brilliance and team result in this match.
The Twin 93s: Agha and Imam Set Up the Chase
Pakistan’s second innings produced an unusual coincidence: Salman Agha scored 93 and Imam-ul-Haq also scored exactly 93 in the same innings. Pakistan were eventually dismissed for 378, setting South Africa a target of 277, the second-highest successful fourth-innings chase ever attempted in Pakistan, and the highest ever in Lahore, if achieved.
Two batters stopping just short of a century in the same innings, at almost the same total, isn’t something competitors have flagged but it’s exactly the kind of detail that turns a routine scorecard into a story worth remembering.
South Africa’s Collapse: 277 Needed, 183 All Out
South Africa ended day three at 51 for 2, with Ryan Rickelton unbeaten on 29. But the chase never gathered real momentum. South Africa were eventually bowled out for 183 in 60.5 overs Rickelton top-scoring with 45 and Dewald Brevis contributing 54, but a 73-run stand between the two was the closest South Africa came to threatening the target.
Pakistan’s bowling in the second innings was led by Noman Ali (4 for 79) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (4 for 33), with Sajid Khan adding 2 for 38. South Africa fell 93 runs short, and Pakistan completed a genuinely significant win one that ended a 10-match Test winning run for their opponents.
If South Africa tour Pakistan again, their middle and lower order need specific practice against spin in fourth-innings, deteriorating-pitch conditions. This exact collapse pattern a strong start followed by a rapid unravelling against turn — has now shown up in a Test they were expected to win.
T20I Series: 1-1 Heading Into a Decider
Going into the 3rd T20I, the series was locked at 1-1, setting up a genuine decider at Gaddafi Stadium. Neither side carried clear momentum into the final match a rare scenario in an era where stronger teams often sweep short bilateral series comfortably.
Series that reach a genuine decider like this are worth tracking as their own category. They tend to predict competitive balance between two sides far better than overall win-loss records from a season.
3rd T20I: Babar Azam’s Measured 68 Seals the Series
South Africa set Pakistan a target of 140, finishing their innings on 139 for 9. On paper, a chase this small should have been routine for a Pakistan batting order featuring Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. It wasn’t.
Anatomy of the Chase: From 17 off 12 to 68 off 43
Pakistan lost Farhan for 19 in the sixth over, caught off captain Ferreira’s bowling, leaving Pakistan at 36 for 1. From there, the chase became almost entirely about Babar Azam managing tempo:
- After 5 overs: Pakistan 31/1, Babar 17 off 12
- After 8 overs: Pakistan 56/2, Babar 24 off 23
- After 10 overs: Pakistan 64/2, Babar 35 off 30
- After 12 overs: Pakistan 89/2, Babar 51 off 36
- After 15 overs: Pakistan 115/2, Babar 64 off 43
- Final score: Babar dismissed by Bosch for 68, having batted the innings almost start to finish
Look at the acceleration curve here Babar moved from a strike rate around 104 (24 off 23) to roughly 141 (51 off 36) in just four overs. That’s not a batter getting lucky with boundaries. That’s a deliberate shift in gear once the pitch and bowling had been fully assessed arguably the single most underrated skill in T20 batting.
What people assume is that chasing 140 with Babar Azam in the side should never be tense. The reality is that South Africa’s bowlers took a wicket at a critical early point and squeezed singles relentlessly, forcing Babar to construct almost the entire chase single-handedly. Pakistan completed the win by 4 wickets, sealing the series.
When judging whether a chase was genuinely “comfortable,” the required run rate at each fall of wicket matters more than the final target number. Babar’s 68 looks routine on a scorecard it was actually the difference between a smooth win and a nervous finish.
What People Think vs What Actually Happened
Myth 1: “South Africa’s Test loss was about facing raw pace.”
Truth: The collapse was built entirely on spin Noman Ali and Shaheen Afridi combined for 8 wickets in the second innings, with the pitch showing clear signs of turn from early in the match.
Myth 2: “Muthusamy’s 11-wicket haul should have won South Africa the Test.”
Truth: Individual bowling brilliance doesn’t guarantee a result Pakistan’s batting depth (the twin 93s from Agha and Imam) neutralised even a genuinely historic bowling performance.
Myth 3: “Chasing 140 with Babar Azam in the side is an easy win.”
Truth: Pakistan lost an early wicket and needed Babar to carefully build his innings through the middle overs to close out the match with control, not comfort.
Player Performance Rating
| Player | Team | Key Stat |
|---|---|---|
| Senuran Muthusamy | South Africa | 11 wickets in a losing Test |
| Tony de Zorzi | South Africa | 104 — 2nd Test century in Asia |
| Salman Agha | Pakistan | 93 — set up the 277 target |
| Imam-ul-Haq | Pakistan | 93 — matched Agha’s score |
| Noman Ali | Pakistan | 10 wickets across the match espn+1 |
| Babar Azam | Pakistan | 68 off 43 — sealed the T20I series |
| Dewald Brevis | South Africa | 54 — best resistance in the chase |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What was the result of the 1st Test between Pakistan and South Africa in 2025?
Ans. Pakistan won the 1st Test by 93 runs at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, ending South Africa’s 10-match Test winning streak. Pakistan scored 167 and 378, while South Africa managed 269 and 183.
Q2: Who took the most wickets in the Pakistan vs South Africa 1st Test?
Ans. Senuran Muthusamy took 11 wickets in the match for South Africa — his career-best haul — but South Africa still lost the Test by 93 runs.
Q3: What target did South Africa fail to chase in the 1st Test?
Ans. South Africa were set a target of 277 in the fourth innings, which would have been the highest successful chase in Lahore. They were bowled out for 183, falling 93 runs short.
Q4: Who won the 2025-26 T20I series between Pakistan and South Africa?
Ans. Pakistan won the T20I series. After the first two matches were shared 1-1, Pakistan won the series-deciding 3rd T20I, chasing South Africa’s total of 139/9 to finish on 140/6, winning by 4 wickets.
Q5: How did Babar Azam build his match-winning innings in the 3rd T20I?
Ans. Babar Azam started cautiously at 17 off 12 balls, gradually accelerating through the middle overs to reach 51 off 36 and eventually 68 off 43, before being dismissed by Bosch, having guided most of Pakistan’s chase.
