Kolkata: Pakistan finally have something to cheer about after they got their first points in this edition of the Champions Trophy by beating South Africa by 19 runs (via the DLS method) in Birmingham on Wednesday.
South Africa entered the field as the number one ranked ODI side and Pakistan, clearly were under pressure considering the 124 run beating they received at the hands of India few days back and also because they are the lowest ranked team in the ICC ODI rankings.
Quite interestingly, both their performances turned out be quite opposite and unexpected. South Africa batted first and never really got going as they lost their top four batsmen- Quinton De Kock (33), Hashim Amla (16), Faf Du Plessis (26) and skipper AB De Villiers (0) with only 90 runs on the board by the 23rd over.
The Pakistani bowlers bowled in good areas, especially Hasan Ali, who ended up with three wickets giving away 24 runs in eight overs. Imad Wasim, who was at the receiving end of the Hardik Pandya onslaught in their last game against India came back strongly to scalp the big wickets of AB De Villiers and Hashim Amla in his eight overs, conceding just 20 runs.
Junaid Khan, who replaced the injured Wahab Riaz in the team also got two crucial wickets. Only the the lower order – Chris Morris’s (28) and Kagiso Rabada’s (26), and David Miller’s fighting 75 from 104 balls got them to a total of some decency or else things could have been much worse for the Proteas.
South Africa ended their innings at 219/8.
In reply, Pakistan’s debutant opening batsman- Fakhar Zaman got his team off a brilliant start as he cut and drove the South African bowlers for an attractive 31 of 26 deliveries. But after he and senior batsman Azhar Ali (9) were dismissed in the same over by Morne Morkel, Pakistan feared another batting collapse. But Mohammad Hafeez (26) and Babar Azam (31*) stitched a 48 run stand to ensure that things were under control as the both of them held their ground, not allowing the bowlers to gain an upper hand in the match.
But after Hafeez’s fell to Morkel, South Africa believed that they had a chance but their hopes were put to rest by Shoaib Malik who made an unbeaten 14-ball 16 with three hits to the fence. Malik’s brief innings ensured that Pakistan were well ahead of the DLS par total if rains arrived and sadly for the Proteas, it happened.
After 27 overs of play, the rains stopped the game and it never did restart as a result of which Pakistan were declared the eventual winners being 19 runs ahead of the DLS par total.
This victory makes the scenario in Group B interesting as South Africa now have a do-or-die game against India remaining as the men-in-blue would look to seal a semifinal berth as they take on Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Brief scores
South Africa 219/8 (David Miller 75*, Quinton De Kock 33; Hasan Ali 3/24) lost to Pakistan 119/3 in 27 overs (Babar Azam 31*, Fakhar Zaman 31; Morne Morkel 3/18) by 19 runs (via DLS method).