Left-arm spinner George Linde and opening batsman Aiden Markram were the two stand-out performers as South Africa came out triumphant in the second T20I versus Pakistan in Johannesburg this Monday and levelled the four-match series 1-1.
Linde and Markram were heroes for the Proteas in either department. While the former delivered an all-important four-over spell of 3/23, the latter went all guns blazing with the willow through his knock of 54 runs off 30 deliveries.
Linde picked up crucial wickets right at the beginning of the innings after Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first, while Markram shut the door on the visitors with a stellar batting effort to set up the hosts’ run-chase.
As it happened, Pakistan lost their openers Mohammad Rizwan (0) and Sharjeel Khan (8) cheaply, before middle-order batters, skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez, went about resurrecting the innings at a sedate tempo. Hafeez was the more fluent batsman of the two as he made 32 runs off 23 balls, including six fours.
Had Hafeez continued, Babar might have gone on the offensive a lot earlier. However, his partner’s dismissal forced the visiting captain to hold back and try to bat deeper into the innings as Pakistan lost regular wickets at the other end. Babar ended with a run-a-ball half-century (50), for which he received criticism from certain corners. The batsman ensured that his team had at least something to bowl at with a score of 140/9 at the end of their allotted 20 overs.
Apart from Linde, pacer Lizaad Williams (3/35) was also among the wickets but proved a touch expensive in comparison to the rest of the Proteas attack. Left-arm quick Beuran Hendricks (0/27), wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (1/22) and fast-bowler Sisanda Magala (1/32) played their part in keeping things under control for the hosts and setting up the game for their team.
In the run-chase, the South Africans looked to carry on the momentum gained through their collective bowling effort and went on the attack straight away, putting the Pakistani bowlers under pressure.
The hosts did lose Janneman Malan (15) and Wihan Lubbe (12) early in the process, but Markram batted tremendously. Once he was dismissed as well, South Africa’s stand-in captain Heinrich Klaasen (36*) and later Linde (20*) took control of the proceedings and helped the home team ramp home with six wickets and six overs to spare in the innings.
Eyeing a comeback in the series, South Africa produced a magnificent all-round performance despite missing a number of their first-choice cricketers, who are in India due to Indian Premier League (IPL) duties.
Wrist-spinner Usman Qadir (2/16) returned with the best figures among Pakistani bowlers. And though Mohammad Hasnain (1/25) and Hasan Ali (1/16) picked up a wicket apiece, they were just as expensive as the rest of the support cast barring Qadir. Shaheen Afridi (3/30), Mohammad Nawaz (0/29) and Faheem Ashraf (0/14) failed to put the breaks on run-scoring.
For his vital spell at the start of the game, Linde received the ‘Player of the Match’ award on the day. The 29-year-old spoke of the challenge of bowling for his team in the powerplay overs despite being a spinner.
“It’s never easy bowling in the powerplay as a spinner. We had a game plan and it played in our favour. Personally it was a big confidence booster to get a wicket first ball. I thought the pitch was okay. It was a good game for us all-round. Sitting down, looking at video footage, visualising where I can get better. That’s my thing and I love to do that.”
he said at the post-match presentation.
With the series level 1-1, the two teams will now meet in Centurion on Wednesday (April 14).
Brief scores
Pakistan 140/9 in 20 overs (Babar Azam 50; George Linde 3-23, Lizaad Williams 3-35) lost to South Africa 141/4 in 14 overs (Aiden Markram 54, Heinrich Klaasen 36*; Usman Qadir 2-26) by six wickets
