South Africa will fly out of Pakistan with a 1-1 series draw and, more importantly, the sense they finally understand how to win in Asian conditions. The victory in Rawalpindi was their third in four Tests on the subcontinent, following a 2-0 success in Bangladesh last year, and it has convinced the dressing-room that recent hard lessons are beginning to pay off.
“This victory is definitely one of the highlights in my career,” Kagiso Rabada said after sealing the 57-run win. “Winning a Test match outside of Bangladesh in the subcontinent. I think that’s pretty awesome. It definitely gives the guys a lot of confidence. Also, it’s a pretty young team and a young team that wants to go out and do the dirty work.”
Key facts first
• South Africa won by 57 runs to square the series.
• Rabada’s 71, his maiden Test fifty, turned the match on its head.
• The pacer doubled as the lone quick, sending down 63 overs across the two Tests while the spinners handled the bulk.
• Before last year’s Bangladesh tour, South Africa had lost ten of their previous eleven Tests in Asia.
An unlikely batting hero
Arriving in Rawalpindi on the back of a pair in Lahore, Rabada would not have featured on many sweepstakes for top scorer. Yet his 71 from 61 balls, combined with Senuran Muthusamy in a 98-run last-wicket stand, broke Pakistan’s grip on the contest. He was rewarded with more than a win.
“We have a thing where if I score 30 runs, he’ll give me a bat because we are sponsored by the same batting company,” he laughed, pointing at team-mate David Bedingham. “He said he thought his money was safe after the way I batted in the first Test. So that was just one way to get one up on him.”
Those runs arrived in typically brisk fashion: drives down the ground, a clean swipe over mid-wicket, even a straight six off Shaheen Shah Afridi. The approach was no accident.
“We wanted to be aggressive in the way that we played, because if you just sit around waiting for a bad ball, you’re probably going to get a good ball that gets you out,” Rabada explained. “It was important that the batting unit could establish the shots that they wanted to play to put the opposition under pressure and that they start putting fielders back and then you can start rotating the strike.”
Bowling in a supporting role
The quick’s primary job remains with the ball. In this series, though, the surfaces offered precious little for pace. As a result, Rabada became a holding bowler while Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer hunted wickets. Abdullah Shafique edged Rabada repeatedly without one sticking, a reminder that good spells do not always translate into figures.
“If you’re a fast bowler and nothing’s happening for you, it’s about keeping the game quiet or finding a wicket here and there and applying pressure by slowing the rate down. It’s about running and giving it your all,” he said. “You can still create pressure for the spinners, so they do their job much better. It doesn’t help if we are leaking everywhere and not necessarily bowling correctly. Not many rewards came my way, but I was more than happy to do the job that I did.”
Context and outlook
South Africa leave Pakistan third in the current World Test Championship table, level on points with Australia but behind on percentage. With home series against Sri Lanka and the West Indies to come, the players see a clear route to the 2025 final. Equally, they know past struggles in Asia can resurface quickly if basics slip.
Coach Shukri Conrad believes the group finally owns its methods. He pointed to the Rawalpindi pitch: slow, cracked, and perfect for finger-spin. Instead of over-thinking, the Proteas trusted patience and targeted sessions they could win—something they rarely managed during heavy defeats in India and Sri Lanka between 2015 and 2019.
The next Asian examination will be a two-Test trip to Sri Lanka in late 2026. For now, Rabada and his young colleagues can enjoy the small but significant milestone.
“It’s a stepping-stone, nothing more,” Conrad said, “but it tells us we’re moving the right way.”
