Pakistan beat South Africa by 95 runs, clean sweep series 2-0. The venue for the match was Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi. A major cricket nation toured Pakistan after a long gap of 13 years. Thus it was an important series from that perspective. Also, this was Babar Azam’s first full series as captain. He did not disappoint at all as his team won both the matches convincingly.
Brief Scores
1st innings Pakistan 272-10(114.3 overs). F Ashraf 78(160), B Azam 77(127), A Nortje 5/56, K Maharaj 3/90.
South Africa 201-10(65.4 overs). T Bavuma 44(138), W Mulder 33(83), H Ali 5/54, F Ashraf 1/20.
2nd innings Pakistan 298-10(102 overs). M Rizwan 115(204), N Ali 45(78), G Linde 5/64, K Maharaj 3/118.
South Africa 274-10(91.4 overs). A Markram 108(243), T Bavuma 61(125), H Ali 5/60,S Afridi 4/51.
Result: Pakistan beat South Africa by 95 runs.
Man of the Match- Hasan Ali
Man of the Series- Mohammad Rizwan
On Day 1, when Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss, he chose to bat first. It was easy to choose. His decision was turning out to be doubtful when the hosts were reduced to 22-3. But then the captain Babar Azam and Fawad Alam stitched an important partnership. Faheem Ashraf top scored with 78 runs.
Anrich Nortje picked up his first 5-fer in Asia
For South Africa, Anrich Nortje bowled beautifully to pick up 5 wickets in the first innings. Maharaj also dismissed 3 Pakistani batsmen. Then South Africa started to bat. But none of their batsmen were able to register even a half-century score.
They lost wickets at regular intervals and were dismissed for just 201. They could bat out only 65.4 overs. Hasan Ali took 5 wickets in this innings. Then in their second innings, Pakistan were able to set a decent target for the visitors.
Mohammad Rizwan scored yet another century. Their were also decent lower order contributions from Yasir Shah and Nauman Ali. For the visitors, left arm spinner George Linde picked up a well deserved 5-wicket haul.
So South Africa were set a target of 370 runs in the 4th innings. This was a huge target and no one expected South Africa to win. But they came very close in doing so. At one point, they were well on target in the chase as they were 241-3. Aiden Markram scored his maiden century in Asia and he was ably supported by Temba Bavuma.
Hasan Ali picked up another 5 wicket haul, 10 wickets in the match
But the second new ball did the trick for the hosts. South Africa lost their last 7 wickets for just 33 runs and all wickets came through the new ball. Hasan Ali was brilliant and picked up 5 wickets. He was assisted by Shaheen Afridi who also dismissed 4 batsmen.
Hasan Ali was adjudged Man of the Match for his superb 10-wicket haul. Also, Mohammad Rizwan was the Man of the Series. He had scored 166 runs at an average of 83 in just 3 innings.
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