Babar Azam, Fawad Alam lead Pakistan's recovery

Tea Pakistan 145 for 3 (Babar 77*, Fawad 42*) v South Africa

Babar Azam and Fawad Alam shared 123 runs between them in a wicketless second session for Pakistan, who recovered from 22 for 3 to reach tea with the foundation laid for a big first innings score.

South Africa were without a frontline spinner for most of the day after George Linde was forced off the field in the 23rd over, which was his third. Linde injured the little finger on his bowling hand and was taken for X-ray which found no fracture. He was spotted 10 minutes before tea warming up on the sidelines but there is no word on whether he will bowl again. And his absence has already impacted South Africa.

Keshav Maharaj bowled 25 overs, almost without a break and without much success after his early burst. Maharaj took two wickets in 10 balls in the morning but then faced hard graft. He sent down 19 overs in first-spell, which straddled the first and second session, was given an over's break to change end and then bowled six in his second spell which is likely to continue. With Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje rotating from the other end and with a brief break for Wiaan Mulder to delivery five overs, Quinton de Kock had little choice but to use Maharaj as much as he did and on a pitch that settled after a morning of significant turn. And Pakistan were allowed to bed in.

Despite talk of the surface offering something for quicks and evidence of spin in the morning, the Rawalpindi strip appeared benign for most of the afternoon as South Africa tried to find reverse swing. It still demands patience from the batsmen, something Fawad has in strong supply, and the scoring rate hovered around 2.5 runs an over but runs never seemed impossible to find. Especially not for Babar.

The Pakistan captain has played two Test innings in Rawalpindi prior to this match, and both times he scored a hundred. The signs are there that he could make it three out of three. Unlike Fawad, who was watchful at the start, Babar started strongly with back-to-back boundaries off Maharaj. His 12 fours included an array of drives and a whip off the waist through square, to reach his fifty, off 81 deliveries. A hallmark of Babar's innings, and South Africa's lacklustre effort so far, is the ease with which he scored runs all around the field - 45 on the off side and 31 on the on-side.

Fawad also favoured the off-side more, in contrast to the way he batted in Karachi, and provided a perfect foil. He left the ball well, and faced 114 dot balls in his innings to defy a fast-despairing South African attack.

Matters were not always so dour for the visitors. Maharaj's double-strike came as South Africa claimed three wickets for one run to leave Pakistan reeling early on. In that, Maharaj became only the second South African spinner to take two wickets in the first 15 overs of a Test, after Reggie Schwartz in 1906, and he could have claimed one as early as his first ball. Maharaj was brought into the attack in the eighth over and had Imran Butt pressing forward to defend a ball that turned away and took the edge, but Temba Bavuma, at first slip, put it down.

The let off did not help Pakistan better than their opening stand statistics, and Butt and Abid Ali had accumulated 21 before Maharaj had Butt caught behind. In his next over, Maharaj had Azhar Ali defending for turn against a ball that went straight on and was out lbw for a duck. And in the over after that Anrich Nortje dismissed Abid thanks to a stunning catch by Aiden Markram at short leg, who was diving low to his right.