South Africa’s top-order fired, but the middle-order failed to capitalise as they crumbled to 144 and were bowled out in 19.3 overs. Fakhar Zaman’s 60 set up the chase for Pakistan, but the middle and lower middle-order huffed and puffed to get over the finish line.
After being carted around more often than not in the first three T20Is, the bowlers finally came to the party and dominated a large part of the fourth T20I. It was a game that ebbed and flowed and swayed from one corner to the other, but in the end, Pakistan managed to hold their nerve to clinch the fourth T20I and take the series 3-1.
Babar Azam won his third toss of this series and once again inserted South Africa into bat first. The hosts didn’t have the best of starts as they lost Aiden Markram in the second over. He struck a four and a six off Mohammad Nawaz before he was pinned LBW on the last ball of the second over. However, Janneman Malan and Rassie van der Dussen got the innings back on track and laid the foundation.
The duo added 57 runs in just 6.3 overs as both batters scored at a fair clip. But Faheem Ashraf’s introduction turned things around. The Pakistan seam-bowling all-rounder had Malan caught at mid-off in the 9th over in his very first over. Van der Dussen continued his good touch at the other end and took the Proteas past the 100-run mark. He notched up his fourth T20I half-century, and it came off 33 balls.
At 109/2 in the 13th over, things looked solid for South Africa, and they seemed set for a total of at least 165-170. But they lost five wickets in the span of four overs. Ashraf bounced out Henrich Klaasen, who holed out at deep mid-wicket. Haris Rauf had van der Dussen holing out at deep mid-wicket as well a few balls later. Ashraf had his third wicket of the game as George Linde nicked one to the keeper. Hasan Ali, who had conceded 29 runs in his first two overs came back with a double-wicket over dismissing Wiaan Mulder and Andile Phehlukwayo. Eventually, South Africa were bowled out for 144, and they lost their last eight wickets for just 35 runs.
In reply, Pakistan lost an early wicket too. Left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin opened the bowling and had the in-form Mohammad Rizwan stumped second ball. Fakhar Zaman walked out at No. 3 and attacked from the word-go as Babar Azam consolidated at the other end. The left-hander’s blitz helped Pakistan get to 57/1 at the end of the powerplay, which turned into 92/1 in nine overs. By then, Zaman had raced away to 60 off 32 balls.
However, Lizaad Williams bowled a match-turning over as he dismissed both Zaman and Azam in the space of three balls. Wickets continued to fall for Pakistan as they tumbled to 129/7 in 18.2 overs. 16 runs were required from 10 balls at that stage. They had scored a mere 37 runs in 9.2 overs as the South African bowlers staged an excellent comeback. But Mohammad Nawaz kept his cool and calmly took Pakistan over the line in the final over with an unbeaten 25.
Pakistan finished the tour with a solid T20I series win, their fourth successive international series win over South Africa. After beating the Proteas at home in the Test and T20I series’, Pakistan came down to South Africa and beat the hosts 2-1 and 3-1 in the ODI and T20I series’ respectively.
Brief Scores
South Africa 144 allout (van der Dussen 52, Malan 33, Ashraf 3/17, Ali 3/40, Rauf 2/18) lost to Pakistan 149/7 (Zaman 60, Nawaz 25*, Azam 24, Magala 2/33, Williams 2/39) by three wickets
