Mushtaq Ahmed dismissed Herschelle Gibbs two short of a ton

South Africa captain Graeme Smith hit out at his side after a poor start to the second Test against Pakistan.

The tourists slumped to 256-9 on the opening day, raising Pakistan's hopes of their first home series victory against a major opponent since 1997.

"It is close to my worst day I have had as a captain. Our performance was crap," said Smith, who made just two.

"It has been a tough tour for me as captain. Every day there has been something new happening."

"The pitch had bounce and was helpful to the bowlers and they took advantage of it."

Motivation has been a factor but we were under pressure all the time today Graeme Smith

South Africa only agreed to make the trip to Pakistan after a last-minute agreement to amend the schedule, overcoming safety fears over the city of Karachi.

Shabbir Ahmed was in little doubt as to his favourite wicket in a haul of 4-63 on his return to the side.

"I enjoyed the wicket of Smith the most as he came here after scoring double hundreds in England," said the fast bowler.

Smith, 22, has scored just 140 runs in his last nine Test innings since record knocks of 277 and 259 in July.

Herschelle Gibbs was the one batsman in form, but he was dismissed two short of a century.

However, Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq's job was made more difficult by further injuries and a bout of flu in the squad.

All-rounder Shoaib Malik strained an abdominal muscle after bowling five overs while leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and all rounder Abdul Razzaq both had temperatures.

"They have flu and it is getting worse. They have been put on antibiotics and hopefully they'll be much better when we bowl again," Inzamam said.

Batsman Asim Kamal went for an elbow x-ray after being hit by a shot by Neil McKenzie while fielding at forward short leg but Inzamam said there was no fracture.