Muthusamy's six skittles Pakistan for 378 despite Agha 93

Senuran Muthusamy sliced through Pakistan's lower order in the second half of the first session to wrap up Pakistan's innings for 378. The left-arm spinner took three wickets in an over on the hour mark, and career-best figures of 6 for 117 as Pakistan lost their last five wickets for 16 runs. But much of the job Pakistan were tasked with completing overnight was taken care of by Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha, whose partnership stretched to 163 before the wickets began to fall. South Africa were left to face an awkward four overs before lunch, but they did so without harm.

After a watchful first pair of overs, Agha got things running with a sweep for four behind square, before lifting Simon Harmer up and over the sightscreen. With limited apparent danger from the spin, Pakistan looked set to march to and beyond 400, a mark both sides had appeared to consider as borderline impregnable on a surface that would deteriorate fast. By now, Harmer had been lifted by Agha for another six and Muthusamy for four more as he motored towards three figures.

But the wickets came all of a sudden. Extra turn and bounce kissed the shoulder of Rizwan's bat as the wicketkeeper took a catch to finally break a record sixth-wicket stand. The incoming Noman Ali was cleaned up after Muthusamy bowled a delivery Noman himself would have been proud of, giving it air before it whistled past the outside edge and into off stump. For the second time in the innings, he went two in two after Sajid was coaxed into a defensive prod that took the edge and towards Aiden Markram at slip.

Agha and Shaheen Shah Afridi dug in for the next half hour before the latter's aggressive nature got the better of him. He danced down the track and hacked at the ball, only to see Muthusamy make a mess of his stumps behind him. It left Agha in danger of being stranded a few runs from his century, and he tried to hasten that milestone, taking on Prenelan Subrayen. He smeared across the line to allow Muthusamy to take a comfortable catch on the boundary, leaving him seven runs shy, just as Imam-ul-Haq had been yesterday.