South African Captain Faf Du Plessis rejects Pakistan Coach Mickey Arthur remarks
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Cape Town - Faf du Plessis said on Sunday that Test matches were cricket's most exciting format after his side clinched their series against Pakistan with a nine-wicket win on the fourth day at Newlands on Sunday.
The South African captain disagreed with Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur's criticism of the pitches for the first two Tests, both won by South Africa in less than four days.
South Africa needed just 48 minutes and 9.5 overs to score the 41 runs needed on Sunday to score a second successive win - and a seventh successive home series victory.
Du Plessis said lively surfaces and an attacking mindset, encouraged by Twenty20 cricket, had helped make Test cricket exciting.
"There are not a lot of Test matches that are going five days around the world any more," he said.
"The speed of play has gone up tremendously. Test cricket has evolved and it is great for the fans. They are getting fours, sixes, lots of wickets and pace bowlers bowling. Test cricket for me the last few years has been the most exciting format of all."
Du Plessis said the pitch at Newlands had been challenging on the first two days but there were rewards for batsmen.
"If Pakistan batted well yesterday (Saturday), today and tomorrow would have been good batting wickets. It flattened out and the ball got soft. It was tough on day two but we scored close to 400 runs," he said.
The South African captain felt Pakistan had missed a chance to put pressure on the hosts by failing to capitalise on a sparkling third wicket stand between Shan Masood and Asad Shafiq on Saturday. The tourists reached 159 for two but were bowled out for 294, leaving South Africa an easy target.
"They had an opportunity to get 150 (ahead) on the board but we did really well after tea, making sure we did not let the opposition get back in the game," he said.
