Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan’s sensational fifties followed by Shaheen Shah Afridi’s three-wicket haul guided Pakistan to a 33-run victory over South Africa in a rain-curtailed do-or-die match in their Super 12 encounter of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the SCG in Sydney on Thursday.
In the rain-curtailed 14-over match, skipper Temba Bavuma top-scored for South Africa with 36 off 19 while Aiden Markram played a knock of 20 runs in 14 deliveries. For Pakistan Shaheen bagged three while Shadab Khan scalped two wickets. With this comprehensive victory over the Proteas, Pakistan can keep hoping against hope for a miracle after doing what was needed of them against South Africa.
With the win, Pakistan claimed third place in the Group 2 points table with four points in their hands. Even after the defeat South Africa are placed in the second spot in the table with five points in their hands.
Chasing a competitive target of 186, South Africa got off to a bad start as they lost their opener Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw under three overs and left tottering at 16/2.
Pakistan’s star pacer Shaheen Afridi struck in the very first over of the innings as he dismissed de Kock for zero. In the third over of the innings, Afridi produced a stunning short and wide outside-off delivery to send Rossouw packing for 7 runs.
Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram then handled the charge as they hammered Haris Rauf for 20 runs in the fourth over of the game.
Shadab Khan was then brought into the attack and the bowler proved he is one of the best bowlers of Pakistan’s attack as he removed well-set batter Bavuma for 36 off 19 and Markram for 20 off 14, leaving South Africa tottering at 66/4.
Tristan Stubbs then came out to bat. After 9 overs rain stopped play, new batters Tristan Stubbs batting at 2* off 6 and Heinrich Klaasen playing unbeaten at 2 off 4, South Africa’s score read 69/4. At that point Pakistan were 16 runs ahead on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.
The play was resumed after much delay and South Africa’s innings was reduced to 14 overs, with a DLS target of 142. That meant the Proteas needed 73 from their remaining five overs.
In the first over of the resumed play, Tristan Stubbs slammed Shadab Khan for 14 runs with the help of a stunning four and a six.
Heinrich Klaasen also opened his hands to slam Afridi for back-to-back two fours, however, his stint on the crease was cut short as he was dismissed after scoring 15 off 9 deliveries.
Wayne Parnell then came out to bat, but the latter could not do much as he was dismissed by Mohammad Wasim Jr in the 12th over of the innings after scoring just three runs. Kagiso Rabada then came out to bat.
The equation went down to Proteas needing 43 runs in 12 balls. Naseem Shah’s slower ball removed Stubbs for 18 off 18 in the 13th over of the game. In the last over South Africa’s batters could only manage to score 7 runs and handed a 33-run win to Pakistan.
