CENTURION: South Africa inflicted a sound defeat on Pakistan to win a three-match series after grabbing a 7-wicket victory over the visitors in second T20I played at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday.
The home side, had a shaky start to their innings as left-arm pacer Jahandad Khan dismissed Ryan Rickelton (two) and Matthew Breetzke (12) in his successive overs, reducing them to 28/2 in four overs.
Following the early blow, Rassie van der Dussen joined hands with Reeza Hendricks and together they raised a match-defining 157-run partnership for the third wicket.
The marathon stand eventually culminated in the 18th over when Abbas Afridi got rid of Hendricks. The right-handed opener remained the top-scorer for the home side with 117 off 63 deliveries, hitting seven fours and ten sixes.
Rassie van der Dussen then put together an unbeaten 25-run partnership with skipper Heinrich Klaasen (eight not out) and steered his side to a series-clinching victory.
He struck three fours and five sixes on his way to an unbeaten 66 off 38 deliveries. For Pakistan, Jahandad bagged two wickets, while Abbas struck once.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. Left-handed opener Saim Ayub played an unbeaten 98-run knock while Babar Azam scored 31 runs off 20 balls. Middle-order batter Muhammad Irfan Khan, also played a handy 30-run cameo from just 16 deliveries. Pakistan finished the innings with a score of 206 runs at the loss of five wickets.
Pakistan made one change to their Playing XI. Pacer Jahandad Khan was included in the squad in place of spinner Sufiyan Muqeem owing to the conditions at the SuperSport Park.
After wrapping up the T20I series, Pakistan and South Africa will play a three-match ODI series.
The opening ODI will take place on December 17 in Paarl, while the second and third ODIs will be played in Cape Town and Johannesburg on December 19 and 22 respectively.
Pakistan and South Africa will then engage in a two-match Test series, which will kick off in Centurion on December 26, meanwhile, the second Test will start from January 3 in Cape Town.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Usman Khan, Tayyab Tahir, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks, Matthew Breetzke, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen (c & wk), Donovan Ferreeia, George Linde, Dayyaan Galiem (on debut), Nqaba Peter, Kwena Maphaka, Ottneil Baartman
