Kagiso Rabada defends SA pitch

Defending the South African pitches, bowler Kagiso Rabada on Sunday said when the batsmen have applied themselves, they have scored runs.

"Right from series against India, through to Australia and now against Pakistan. It shows that when you are prepared to fight in the middle, you will get runs. Faf (du Plessis) got a hundred, there were two 70s - Aiden (Markram) and Temba (Bavuma) - a fifty from Quinton (de Kock)," ICC quoted Rabada, as saying.

Talking about the ongoing Pakistan series, the 23-year-old said, "Even in Centurion, you had Imam-ul-Haq, he batted well, Shan Masood batted well, batted well again today, (Asad) Shafiq. It shouldn't be too easy to score runs in Test cricket!"

Insisting that it wasn't easy for the bowlers too, Rabada said, "We had to show a lot of resilience, but that's Test cricket. We toiled but it wouldn't be Test cricket if it was too easy. What is important is that we showed resilience."

Rabada, referring to attaining the top spot on the Test team rankings, said that winning overseas is important for the team, but first, he wants his side to be unbeaten at home

"Faf (du Plessis) mentioned before we started this series that yes we want to win every single game, but at home, we want to be unbeaten. It is something that we want to take forward. Ultimately, our goal is to be the number one team in the world. We want to make this a fortress. So far so good. But we also want to win overseas. It is what the past players have done, not losing overseas for such a long time, and it is something that is important to us too," he concluded.