Pakistan vs South Africa Tests October 2025: 1-1 Draw — Noman Ali 14 Wickets, Muthusamy Player of Series

Pakistan and South Africa played a 2-match Test series in October 2025 as part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle, with the series ending 1-1 after each team won one Test by a substantial margin. Pakistan won the 1st Test in Lahore (October 12-15) by 93 runs with Noman Ali taking a 10-wicket match haul, and South Africa won the 2nd Test in Rawalpindi (October 20-23) by 8 wickets after scoring 404 in reply to Pakistan's 333. The series marked South Africa's first bilateral Test tour of Pakistan and delivered high-quality cricket in both matches — the 1st Test was competitive through all four innings while the 2nd Test saw South Africa bat dominantly in their first innings to take control. Senuran Muthusamy was named Player of the Series after an outstanding all-round performance in the 1st Test, where he took 11-174 (6/117 & 5/57) to build South Africa's challenge even as Noman Ali's bowling ultimately proved decisive in Pakistan's favour. Tony de Zorzi was the leading run-scorer of the series for South Africa with 175 runs including 104 in Lahore, while Shan Masood and Salman Ali Agha each scored 170 runs for Pakistan. Simon Harmer took 13 wickets across the series for South Africa, providing the main bowling support alongside Muthusamy in a series where spin dominated proceedings on Pakistani surfaces.

1st Test Lahore: Pakistan Win by 93 Runs — Noman Ali's 10-Wicket Haul

The 1st Test at Lahore (October 12-15) produced a compelling result with Pakistan winning by 93 runs. Pakistan scored 378 in their first innings and 167 in their second, setting South Africa 277 to win. South Africa scored 269 in their first innings — with Tony de Zorzi contributing 104 — and then collapsed to 183 in the fourth innings as Noman Ali bowled them out with figures of 4/79 to complete his match haul of 10/191 (6/112 in the first innings, 4/79 in the second). Noman Ali's 10-wicket performance in the 1st Test was the defining bowling performance of the match — his ability to extract turn from the Lahore surface and bowl the spinners' line of attack repeatedly disrupted South Africa's batting plans across both innings. Senuran Muthusamy's 11-174 for South Africa was equally impressive — 6/117 in Pakistan's first innings and 5/57 in the second — but Pakistan's depth of batting and Noman's control in the fourth innings gave the hosts the margin they needed for a 93-run win. The Lahore Test demonstrated that Pakistani spin bowling on home surfaces, with Noman Ali and the supporting cast of spinners operating in favourable conditions, could dismantle any international batting lineup across four innings.

2nd Test Rawalpindi: South Africa Win by 8 Wickets to Level Series

South Africa levelled the series with an 8-wicket win in Rawalpindi (October 20-23). Pakistan scored 333 in their first innings and then collapsed to 138 in their second innings, leaving South Africa needing only 68 runs for victory — which they reached easily with the loss of just 2 wickets (73/2). South Africa's first-innings total of 404 — their highest of the series — was the foundation of their Rawalpindi win, as the lead of 71 runs on first innings gave them the buffer to withstand any Pakistani second-innings recovery. Simon Harmer was the leading wicket-taker in the Rawalpindi Test for South Africa, contributing to the pressure that produced Pakistan's 138 second-innings collapse. Pakistan's batting in the 2nd Test second innings failed to replicate the resistance shown in Lahore — a collapse that ultimately cost them the series result. The 1-1 series draw was a fair reflection of the quality displayed by both teams across the two Tests, with each winning their home Test effectively and neither establishing a clear superiority across the full four innings of each match.