Pakistan rode on a brilliant 93 from Imam-ul-Haq to reach 313-5 after a brief fightback from South Africa on the opening day of the first Test in Lahore on Sunday.Shan Masood hit 76, but Haq missed out on his hundred and Pakistan slumped to 199-5 as four wickets fell quickly.Mohammad Rizwan, 62 not out, and Salman Agha, unbeaten 52 at the close, rebuilt the innings during an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 114 in the final session on a spin-friendly Gaddafi Stadium pitch.Rizwan hit two fours and two sixes in his 12th Test half-century while Agha had two fours and a six in reaching his 10th fifty.Pakistan dominated most of the first two sessions, but then had a mini-collapse from 163-1 to 199-5 as they lost four wickets for 36 runs, the last three without adding a run either side of the tea interval.”We have batted us to a good position,” said Haq, playing his first Test since December 2023. “We must score over 400 to get us in a strong position. Regarding missing a hundred, that’s always disappointing.”Spinner Prenelan Subrayen trapped Masood lbw for 76, including nine fours and a six, to end a 161-run stand with Haq. Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy then had Haq caught at short-leg by Tony de Zorzi, after a 236-minute knock that included seven fours and a six.Next ball — the last before tea — Muthusamy had Saud Shakeel caught and bowled to bring South Africa back into the game at 199-4.Local hero Babar Azam fell for 23, trapped leg-before by Harmer after the interval to make it 199-5 and leave a good 10,000 holiday crowd disappointed.South Africa could have been in a better position had they not dropped Masood on 61 and Haq on 72 with Subrayen the unlucky bowler on both occasions.  South Africa spinner Simon Harmer hoped they could finish off the Pakistan innings quickly on day two.”We had a good day and now need to take positives from today and keep Pakistan under 400,” he said. “That would be great because this pitch will take more spin as the match progresses,” said Harmer, who had figures of 1-75. With the pitch likely to turn, Masood opted to bat after winning the toss and named specialist spin duo Noman Ali and Sajid Khan in the teamPakistan lost opener Abdullah Shafique leg before to pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada off the third ball of the day.South African captain Aiden Markram turned to his spinners in the sixth over and by lunch had used all three — Subrayen, Harmer and Muthusamy.But there were no further dramas in the opening session as Pakistan reached 107-1 at lunch after Haq had brought up his 10th Test fifty.The two-match series is part of the new World Test Championship two-year cycle. South Africa won the title by beating Australia in June.

The West Indies did not lose a wicket after tea to be 173-2 in their second innings at the end of day three of the second Test on Sunday after following on, but still need 97 runs to make India bat again.India’s Kuldeep Yadav earlier took five wickets at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium as the hosts bowled out the West Indies for 248 in their first innings after lunch, a deficit of 270.Captain Shubman Gill enforced the follow-on and the visitors lost two wickets before tea.But opener John Campbell then reached 87 not out and Shai Hope was unbeaten on 66 as the pair put together an unbroken 138-run stand.”It may be a good thing to be challenged,” said India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate, who defended India’s decision to enforce the follow-on.”Getting probably 130 overs in already, that’s a good test in the legs. We’re going to get sturdier Tests in the future where you do have to field for a day-and-a-half,” he told reporters.The gutsy batting of left-handed Campbell and Hope allowed them to build the highest partnership for the West Indies for any wicket in Tests this year.Campbell became the first West Indian to reach fifty in the two-match series with a four off Kuldeep.He survived a couple of close lbw calls against off-spinner Washington Sundar early in his innings but went on to dominate the bowling.Hope reached his fifty off Ravindra Jadeja and raised his bat to an applauding dressing room.- ‘All about application’ -“This is the first time we have been able to win a session in the two Tests. It’s all about application,” West Indies spinner Khary Pierre told reporters.”The wicket is going to deteriorate more so the more runs we could pile on, it could be a challenge for the Indian batsmen,” he said.Tagenarine Chanderpaul was the first to fall in the second innings, for 10 to a diving Gill catch off Mohammed Siraj, before Sundar bowled Alick Athanaze for seven on the stroke of tea.The West Indies began day three at 140-4 in their first innings in response to India’s 518-5 declared.Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep struck within 30 minutes, bowling Hope for 36.Kuldeep then had Tevin Imlach given out lbw for 21, a review of the decision showing the ball would have hit leg stump.Justin Greaves also fell lbw to Kuldeep for 17 and the West Indies were in deep trouble at 175-8 when Jomel Warrican was bowled by Siraj for one.Pierre and Anderson Phillip, who hit 24 not out, put on a stubborn stand of 46 to steer their team to lunch.Jasprit Bumrah bowled Pierre for 23 straight after the break before Kuldeep finally trapped Jayden Seales lbw for 13 for his fifth five-wicket haul in 15 Tests.Seales was fined 25 percent of his match fee by the International Cricket Council on Sunday for showing unnecessary aggression on Friday’s first day.India won the first Test in Ahmedabad by an innings and 140 runs.