During those frenetic final moments of the first Test at Centurion the cameras continued to zoom in on Proteas’ last-man Dane Paterson.
Normally the dressing room jester, there were no jokes from Paterson now. Not even a smile.
This was serious business with a place in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s next year on the line.
Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada ultimately took care of business with an unbroken 51-run partnership for the ninth wicket, which saved Paterson from the tension out in the middle.
“I just kept thinking, I’m not going to leave it to Patto,” Proteas hero Rabada remarked after the nailbiting two-wicket victory over Pakistan.
Rabada has won countless matches with the ball for the Proteas, but the situation facing him at Centurion was altogether a different challenge.
Initially, it was thought that he would look to play the supporting act to Jansen, who of course is the more accomplished batter.
But instead it was Rabada that stared the impressive Pakistan seam attack down with an onslaught that brought him 31 not out off just 25 balls, which five astonishing boundaries.
“When I came in, I said to him (Jansen) that I was going to look to be positive,” Rabada said.
“Without any hesitation he said ‘OK.’ He had his own gameplan, his main thing was one ball at a time, play it on its merit, and that’s what he did. He was a bit more orthodox, I was unorthodox, but it worked out.
“There was a lot of pressure on us. This, without doubt, is the one innings that I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad explained that the message to Rabada and Jansen at the tea interval when 32 runs was still needed was for the batters to remain positive out in the middle.
Rabada certainly took this to heart and executed perfectly under immense pressure.
“The main thing I was thinking about was to continue to stay positive,” he said.
“If I went into my shell and got out doing that, then I was going to be more upset. If I went out being positive I would have accepted that.”
The Proteas’ talisman also stated there would be no let up from the Proteas now that qualification for the WTC Final has been assured as they still want to close out the Pakistan series 2-0.
“The vibe there (at Newlands) is going to be electric. I’m already looking forward to it,” Rabada said.
“However, we need to be ruthless. We learnt a lot of lessons as a Test team and one of them is to be ruthless. And we don't want to take anything for granted in the New Year Test because that will stay in our DNA.”