2nd T20: South Africa set 111-run target for Pakistan

Lahore (Web Desk): Pakistan’s pace bowlers, led by Salman Mirza, Faheem Ashraf, and Naseem Shah, put on a clinical performance to bowl South Africa out for a modest total of 110 runs in Friday’s crucial second T20I at Gaddafi Stadium.

Pakistan’s captain, Salman Ali Agha, made the right call by opting to bowl first, and his decision paid off as the team’s bowlers restricted South Africa to a meagre 110 in just 19.2 overs.

Salman Mirza provided Pakistan with a dream start by dismissing Reeza Hendricks for a duck off the very first delivery of the match. The Proteas’ batting woes continued as they lost two more wickets in consecutive overs — first Naseem Shah struck, then Salman took another — reducing South Africa to a fragile 15-3.

Salman, bowling his third consecutive over, made amends for his earlier drop of Matthew Breetzke (five), by cleaning up the right-handed batter with a brilliant leg-cutter. With South Africa in serious trouble at 23-4 in the 4.4 overs, Dewald Brevis tried to fight back, launching an aggressive counterattack against the Pakistan pacers. However, Faheem Ashraf ended his quick-fire innings in the eighth over with a short-pitched delivery, as Brevis was dismissed for 25 off 16 balls, including three sixes.

Despite his cameo, Brevis was the top scorer for South Africa. Faheem continued his fine performance by dismissing the South African captain, Donovan Ferreira (15), and George Linde in successive overs, further tightening Pakistan’s grip on the game.

Naseem Shah piled on the misery for the visitors, removing all-rounder Corbin Bosch (11) caught behind in the 14th over. South Africa’s lower order then provided a brief resistance, as Ottneil Baartman and Nandre Burger (nine) added 19 runs for the ninth wicket before Burger was dismissed by Abrar Ahmed in the penultimate over.

Faheem Ashraf was the standout performer for Pakistan, finishing with impressive figures of 4 wickets for 23 runs in 3.2 overs. Salman Mirza followed closely with 3 wickets for just 14 runs in his four overs, while Naseem Shah supported well with 2 wickets. Abrar Ahmed picked up the final wicket, helping to wrap up the South African innings.

With this dominant performance, Pakistan now has a firm hold on the match, needing just 111 runs to level the series.

Teams

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Agha(c), Usman Khan(w), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Salman Mirza and Abrar Ahmed.

South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock(w), Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira(c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman and Lungi Ngidi.