Pakistan won the toss on Friday (31/10) and chose to field first, but the South Africans provided little resistance and were bowled out for 110 in 19.2 overs. None of the top three batters could make it past seven runs.  

Opener Reeza Hendricks was bowled for a duck by Salman Mirza, and Quinton de Kock and Tony de Zorzi only managed seven runs each before falling to Naseem Shah and Mirza, respectively.

Dewald Brevis (25 off 16) made the only meaningful contribution in the Proteas’ innings. At the same time, captain Donovon Ferreira (15 off 15), Corbin Bosch (11 off 12), and Ottneil Baartman (12 off 19) were the only other South Africans to get to double figures. 

‘Pakistan’s most effective bowler’

Faheem Ashraf took four wickets for 23 runs, while Mirza, also the Player of the Match, was Pakistan’s most effective bowler, taking 3/14 in his four overs.

For the hosts, it was a dream start with an opening stand of 54 between Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub, setting them up comfortably before Ayub and Babar Azam finished things off with 58 for the second wicket. 

Babar also became the leading run-scorer in T20 internationals in the process. He is now three runs ahead of India’s Rohit Sharma, who has retired from the format.

‘There weren’t a lot of positives’

Farhan (28 off 23) was the only Pakistan batsman who was dismissed after he was trapped leg before wicket by Corbin Bosch.

After the match, Proteas assistant-coach Albie Morkel said there weren’t a lot of positives to take out of the match. “If you lose three or four wickets in the power play, you often don’t recover from that.” 

The series decider will be played at 17:00 today in Lahore.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg