The South African cricket team created history during the first match of their two-match Test series against Zimbabwe, taking place the Queens Park Oval In Bulawayo, as the Keshav Maharaj-led team is heading towards a big victory after a near flawless performance.

In their first match after winning the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) title, the Proteas are without several key players like captain Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, among others.

At stumps on Day 3, Zimbabwe are 32-1 in the fourth innings after being set an unprecedented target of 537 to win the match.

South Africa Achieves Never-Done-Before Feat

With their incredible effort, South Africa have become the first team in history to set a target of above 500 for Zimbabwe in the fourth innings of a Test match. Since gaining Test status in 1992, the African nation has played 125 games and batted fourth on 35 instances, but no team managed to set them a target above 500. Previously, they were set a total above 400 eight times to win.

Team	Target Set	Zimbabwe Score	Venue	Year
South Africa	537	32/1*	Bulawayo	2025
Sri Lanka	491	233/10	Harare	2016
Bangladesh	477	256/10	Harare	2021
Bangladesh	449	226/10	Chattogram	2014
Bangladesh	443	224/10	Mirpur	2018

So far in their history, Zimbabwe have won just 14 matches out of which only six have come while chasing a total in the fourth innings. 174 is the highest total they have ever chased, which came earlier this year against Bangladesh in Sylhet.

If the hosts pull off a miracle and chase down 537, it will not just be their own highest run-chase in history but also the biggest fourth innings in Test cricket history. The current record, which belongs to the West Indies, who chased 418 against Australia in 2003.

This is the 10th time Zimbabwe and South Africa have faced each other in Test history with the hosts aiming for their first win in this fixture. So far, the WTC winners have won eight of the nine fixtures with one draw.