ZIM vs SA | Twitter relieved as Kaitano barely escapes beamer that slip from Maphaka's hands

South Africa’s stand-in skipper Keshav Maharaj won the toss and asked his batters to take the charge first. Batting first, the visitors declared their first innings after posting a big total of 418/9. Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Corbin Bosch scored 153 and 100* respectively to help the Proteas post a 400+ total. Tanaka Chivanga scalped 4 wickets for Zimbabwe in the first innings, alongside 2 wickets bagged by Blessing Muzarabani. Apart from these two, Wellington Masakadza and Vincent Masekesa also claimed a wicket each. Zimbabwe were bundled out for 251 runs in their first innings, with SA taking a lead of 167 runs at the end of the first innings. Visitors took this lead to a mammoth number of 536 runs, scoring 369 runs in the second innings.

Meanwhile, what caught the attention of the fans and attracted the eyeballs was a moment around the end of Day 3. It happened when Takudzwanashe Kaitano was facing the young Proteas pacer Kwena Mapahaka in the 13th over of the second innings during Zimbabwe’s run-chase. On the sixth and last ball of the 13th over, the ball happened to slip from Maphaka’s hands and turned into a beamer that went straight towards the head of Kaitano. The Zimbabwe batter barely escaped and avoided any injury. Subsequently, the ball went for four runs, and Maphaka immediately apologised for his error.

Speaking of the action of the game on the third day, the hosts had scored 32/1 at the time of Stumps. Opener Kaitano was dismissed on the last ball of the day, getting caught by Pretorius off Bosch in the 19th over. South Africa will aim to continue their winning momentum after lifting the prestigious World Test Championship title earlier this month, beating Australia in the final. 

Oops!

Yeah!

Ripper!

Dangerous!

Highest second!

Yeah!

Most wkts for ZIM!

Bosch!

Lost 5 wickets!