Pakistan’s top-order combined with an all-round bowling effort ensured they won their second ODI series on South African soil. The visitors racked up 320 in their 50 overs before they restricted a fighting South African side to 292, winning by 28 runs.
Pakistan’s top three set up the game with a big score before an all-round bowling performance helped Pakistan record a historic series win against South Africa. It was their second ODI series win in South Africa, and they became just the second team after Australia to win two or more bilateral ODI series in the Rainbow Nation.
Temba Bavuma won his first toss as South Africa captain as he inserted Pakistan in to bat first. The Proteas made as many as seven changes. Six of those changes were forced. Five of the top South African stars flew to India for the IPL, while Rassie van der Dussen was ruled out due to a muscle strain. Pakistan also made four changes, but only one of those were forced as Shadab Khan was ruled out due to a toe injury.
Despite so many changes across both sides, there were a couple of constants for Pakistan. Fakhar Zaman’s blazing form continued while Babar Azam’s also built on his good form.
Pakistan got a solid start, and the openers laid the foundation. It was a slightly slowish start, but Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman ensured the visitors got a solid start, and they didn’t lose wickets upfront. The duo added just 44 runs in the first ten overs before upping the ante in the next ten overs and shared a solid 112-run stand which came in 21.2 overs. Both openers went past the 50-run mark before Imam holed out to long-on.
Babar Azam came in and consolidated that start. Pakistan rotated the strike well as Zaman cut loose and notched up his second successive ton in this series, overall his 6th in his ODI career. The left-handed opener was dismissed soon after reaching the milestone, and that saw Pakistan suffer a mini-collapse. The middle-order couldn’t get going, and they slipped from 206/1 to 257/6 in the span of 63 balls.
South Africa made full use of the wickets as they employed part-timers like Aiden Markram and JJ Smuts in six out of the last ten overs. Pakistan were just 264/6 at the end of the 47th before Azam, and Hasan Ali (32 off 11 balls) combined to take Pakistan to 320, scoring 56 runs in the last three overs. Keshav Maharaj was South Africa’s best bowler as he took three wickets, while Markram returned with figures of 2/48 in his ten overs.
In reply, the Proteas had a fluent start. Markram was once again looking good, and Janneman Malan started off solidly at the other end. The duo shared a 54-run stand in just nine overs, but for the umpteenth time in his white-ball career, Markram wasted another start as he was caught behind off Shaheen Afridi for 18. Malan continued ticking the scoreboard at the other end as the others came in and squandered starts at the other end.
Malan was dismissed for 70 in the 24th over, and Bavuma followed him three balls later as Mohammad Nawaz had two in the over. Henrich Klaasen was sent back a couple of overs later as Nawaz picked up his third of the game. At 140/5 in the 28th over, the game look beyond South Africa’s reach. However, Kyle Verreynne and Andile Phehlukwayo shared a fighting 108-run stand as both batters notched up half-centuries.
However, with the required run-rate constantly mounting, both batsmen succumbed to the pressure and were dismissed in the space of six balls as Pakistan sealed the game. Keshav Maharaj and Daryn Dupavillon swung their bats around, but the mountain was too steep to climb, and Pakistan eventually won by 28 runs.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 320/7 (Zaman 101, Azam 94, Imam-ul-Haq 57, Maharaj 3/45, Markram 2/48) beat South Africa 292 (Malan 70, Verreynne 62, Phehlukwayo 54, Nawaz 3/34, Afridi 3/58) by 28 runs
