Pakistan face South Africa at SuperSport Park on Friday, a ground the Proteas have lost on just once.
It was always a tough ask for Pakistan to come to South Africa and beat them in their own back yard. The South Africans have been on an unbelievable run of victories, which sees them top the world rankings and have both batsmen and bowlers in the form of their lives.
It was therefore unsurprising when Graeme Smith’s men won the second Test in Cape Town, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series. However, Pakistan may have been hoping that the Proteas would take their foot off the pedal a bit in the last Test – although the stats suggest otherwise.
The final Test match on Friday will be hosted at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. In terms of results it is the home of South African cricket as the side have only ever lost one Test match there and that was back in 2000.
Other sub-continent sides such as India and Sri Lanka have never won at the ground and Pakistan themselves have tried and failed in the past. If Misbah Ul Haq’s men thought they were in for an easy run-in then they could be greatly mistaken.
Experts have attributed South Africa’s success there to nothing more than it being exactly the sort of pitch they enjoy playing on. It’s a good surface for pace bowling and batsmen really have to dig in to make any runs.
“We like pace and bounce and pitches that offer a lot to our bowlers because that has been a formula for success for us in the past,” said SA head coach Gary Kirsten to ESPN.
The statistics say that South Africa are much more likely to go 3-0, than for Pakistan to take anything from the Test series.
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