Reeza Hendricks’s brilliant knock of 117 runs off 63 balls enabled South Africa to seal the three-match series with one fixture to play at Wanderers Stadium on Saturday (14 December).
Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and made the call to bat first at SuperSports Park, but yet again, Pakistan’s opening duo failed to set the tone early, as Ottneil Baartman surprised the Pakistani skipper with a well-directed bouncer.
After the dismissal of Rizwan, Babar Azam, and Saim Ayub contributed 87 runs to the team’s total. Azam, who desperately needs runs to overcome his lean patch, got off to a good start but couldn’t make it big.
On the other end, Saim smashed the bowlers all over the park, South Africa offered Saim Ayub a lifeline at 97 but unfortunately couldn’t get his maiden T20I century. Contributions from Irfan Khan and Abbas Afridi aided Pakistan’s efforts, but ultimately, it wasn’t sufficient.
While chasing a decent total of 207, South Africa lost both their openers in powerplays to Jahandad Khan. Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen put together a 157-run partnership for the third wicket, guiding South Africa to victory and securing the series.
In this partnership, Hendricks played the aggressive role and scored his first T20I century. For Pakistan, only Abrar Ahmed conceded fewer runs only 29 in his 4-over spell, Abbas Afridi came late to the party after dismissing Hendricks in the 18th over. Till then South Africa was well in control and Van der Dussen’s unbeaten 66 ensured that South Africa got over the line.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 206/5 in 20 overs (Saim Ayub 98*, Irfan Khan 30; Dayyaan Galiem 2-21) lost to South Africa 210/3 in 19.3 overs (Reeza Hendricks 117, Rassie van der Dussen 66*; Jahandad Khan 2-40) by 7 wickets
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Jasir Basharat is a cricket enthusiast capturing the heart of the game through insightful analysis and storytelling sharing his passion for the sport through engaging narratives. He is a business graduate from University of Kashmir.
