With 123* from Quinton de Kock and a scorching four-wicket haul from Nandre Burger, South Africa easily defeated Pakistan by eight wickets in Faisalabad, tying the three-match ODI series. South Africa, riding on a huge second-wicket partnership that smashed Pakistan’s bowling, easily reached the target of 270 with 59 balls remaining.
Through Lhuan-dre Pretorius and de Kock, South Africa started out slowly. Mohammad Wasim Jr. made his breakthrough in the 12th over after the two had put up 81 for the first wicket. Pretorius edged behind to Rizwan and fell for 46 off 40 balls, despite appearing to be in excellent form with his drives and pick-up flicks.
Following that, Tony de Zorzi came to the crease, and the two of them formed a 153-run partnership that utterly destroyed Pakistan’s bowling. The hosts paid a heavy price when De Kock was dropped by Muhammad Nawaz at deep square leg on 15. He struck eight fours and seven sixes in his innings, which he timed wonderfully, earning his 22nd ODI hundred off 96 balls. De Zorzi reached his first fifty in 13 innings with a flurry of drives and slog sweeps, finishing with 76 off 63 balls before holing out to backward point off Faheem Ashraf, who had dropped him on 54.
By that time, the outcome was certain. De Kock remained unfazed, driving with authority and taking Faheem for a big six to complete the task with Matthew Breetzke (16*).
Thanks to Mohammad Nawaz’s fluid 59 and Salman Agha’s steady 69, Pakistan overcame a poor start earlier in the day after choosing to bat and posting what appeared to be a competitive total at the time.
With his explosive pace and movement, Nandre Burger had Pakistan reeling within the first five overs. The left-arm fast bowled Mohammad Rizwan for four, had Babar Azam caught in the slips for eleven, and removed Fakhar Zaman for a duck, leaving the hosts reeling at 22 for three.
Saim Ayub, 53, started the comeback by hitting his second ODI fifty with some fluid strokes against the spinners. For the fourth wicket, he and Salman Agha added 92, with Agha happy to be the anchor. In the 25th over, Corbin Bosch had a brilliant caught-and-bowled opportunity to dismiss Ayub, reopening the game just as Pakistan appeared to be settling in. When the left-hander chipped a return catch to leg-spinner Nqabayomzi Peter for 10, his patchy stay came to an end as Hussain Talat and Salman Agha battled for fluency.
In the meantime, Salman Agha performed flawlessly as the sheet anchor, reaching his second consecutive fifty in the series. After an important 59-run partnership with Nawaz that gave Pakistan momentum, he was bowled by Bosch for 69 from 106 in the 41st over. Nawaz assumed command after that. Faheem Ashraf (28 off 18) and Mohammad Wasim Jr.’s late smashes helped him take Pakistan from 190 for 6 to 269 for 9 with four sixes and three fours in a run-a-ball of 59.
The best bowler was Burger, who finished with 4 for 46 from 10 overs, and Peter, who took three wickets with his leg-spin despite some late punishment. On a sluggish, dry field, the spinners bowled 30 overs before Pakistan’s bottom order counterattacked to add 90 runs in the final 10 overs. They maintained control throughout the middle overs.
India
