After a series victory and a dominant Babar Azam innings, Pakistan’s home supporters finally got what they came for. Pakistan defeated South Africa by four wickets with an over remaining and won the T20I series 2-1 thanks to his brilliant 68 off 47 balls, his 40th 50+ score in the T20I format, which served as the cornerstone of the hosts’ chase of 140 in Lahore.
The visitors were taken aback by Shaheen Afridi’s devastating opening over, in which he tore through South Africa’s top order.
The fans at Gaddafi Stadium had witnessed both of its biggest stars in full force by the time Babar left to a standing ovation.
In a brilliant first over, Shaheen dismissed Quinton de Kock and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, setting the tone right away after Pakistan decided to bowl. After a late move that pulled the ball back into De Kock’s grasp and kissed the inside edge onto the stumps, Pretorius picked out the opening ball with a short, fine leg. When a jagged in-ducker struck Dewald Brevis’ leg, Shaheen almost had a third, but DRS revealed it had bounced too high. South Africa’s PowerPlay score of 22 for 2 was their third-lowest in T20I ever.
South Africa gained some impetus in the middle overs because to small blows from Brevis and Donovan Ferreira, while Reeza Hendricks led a comeback with 38 off 34. Following the PowerPlay, both batsmen took on Mohammad Nawaz, who gave up 38 runs in his three overs. When Bosch ran out of partners, his undefeated 30 off 23 only helped them reach 139 for 8, a score that always seemed low once early movement was gone. However, Faheem Ashraf’s double strike stopped the visitors once more.
With South Africa’s new-ball pair keeping things tight and Saim Ayub falling for a six-ball duck, Pakistan’s response got off to a shaky start. George Linde and Corbin Bosch worked disciplinedly to bring the asking rate down to nearly eight by the eighth over. But by accurate placement and fast running, Babar kept the innings moving, displaying a composed control that had eluded him for some time.
He used a string of well-timed boundaries, including three off the sweep, to find his groove. He and Agha Salman steadily recovered, and their 52-ball 76-run partnership effectively ended the match. The game was already out of South Africa’s grasp by the time both came within five runs of one another toward the end, after Babar hit a clean stroke past cover to reach his first T20I fifty since May 2024.
Babar’s calm chasecraft and Shaheen’s early breakthroughs were two of Pakistan’s most dependable strands, and this performance united them. It provided their supporters with a sight of the side’s recognizable backbone after a period of inconsistency, and the Gaddafi celebration told its own tale.
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