Pakistan and South Africa played out one of the most entertaining innings of this T20 World Cup with several twists and turns and a chaotic finish.
Having won the toss, Pakistan collapsed early to lose 4-43 after 6.4 overs. Babar Azam’s side staged an incredible comeback, largely thanks to a 50-ball half-century from Shadab Khan (52 off 22) and another half-century from Iftikhar Ahmed (51 off 35), which included a 106 m six in the third square. SCG.
Nasser Hussain described the association as “carnage at the SCG”, while Danny Morrison said it was an “outrageous attack”.
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MATCH CENTER: South Africa vs Pakistan Live Score, Stats, Commentary
They took Pakistan to 5-177 after 18.4 overs, but then it was South Africa’s turn to dominate again.
After having a rough night on the field due to light rain, the Proteas eventually responded with a team hat-trick.
Over the course of the last two overs, there were four wickets, two falls and two big sixes as Pakistan finished on 9-185.
In reply, South Africa are 4-94.
There was a lengthy rain delay but play will resume at 10.40pm and South Africa will face five more overs.
The adjusted target they have to achieve is 142 from a total of 14 overs.
The Proteas were seven runs ahead of the DLS target after seven overs, but Shadab Khan took two wickets off his first three balls to turn the game.
Earlier, Babar Azam’s nightmare tournament took a turn for the worse as he was dismissed for six runs off 15 balls. Despite being one of the best batsmen in world cricket, his average in this World Cup drops to a lowly 3.50.
Pakistan need to win the remaining two matches and hope the results of other matches go their way if they want to reach the semi-finals.
South Africa will seal their place in the final four if they win their Group 2 clash.
South Africa are the only unbeaten team in the competition and go into the match as favorites after beating India in their last outing.
Pakistan lost their first clash with India and then suffered a shock defeat to Zimbabwe to throw their tournament prospects into doubt, before bouncing back with a big win over the Netherlands thanks to their powerful attack Rhythm.
They have made a change from the match against the Netherlands. Fakhar Zaman has been ruled out with a knee injury, and Mohammad Haris has taken his place.
South Africa have made two changes, with David Miller missing after suffering back spasms, replaced by Heinrich Klaasen, and Tabraiz Shamsi replacing fellow spinner Keshav Maharaj.
Pakistan XI: Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam (captain), Shan Masood, Mohammad Haris, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah
South Africa XI: Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma (capt), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
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