South Africa’s horrifying performance continued on Sunday, resulting in an early exit from the World Cup. The good news is for Pakistani fans, as the win keeps their hopes alive to reach the semis.
After winning the toss, Sarfaraz decided to bat first. The openers gave a fabulous start by adding 81 runs in 15 overs — the kind of start every team wants to have in important games like this. Their number one batsman Baba Azam batted beautifully for his 69, but their main man Harris Sohail who was making a come back in the team smashed 89 off 59 balls. Sohail’s 89 is the third fastest World Cup innings for Pakistan. The innings helped Pakistan to reach a score of 308. Probably more than enough against the fragile batting line up of South Africa. Ngidi took three wickets but was the most expensive bowler of their side.
Watch: Pakistan Innings
https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1142850749149384704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
South Africa, started poorly, as the out of form opener failed again, Amla got out in the second over of the innings for just two runs. Faf and de Kock then tried to build the innings and added 89 runs in 18 overs. The pace with which they were scoring wasn’t enough to chase down a score of 308. The partnership though added 89 runs, but it was composed at below five an over. Ultimately it built an added pressure on the incoming batsmen, and they kept giving away their wickets in search of getting runs quickly. Even though Pakistan dropped 4-5 catches in the match, South Africa never looked like chasing down the target. Wahab and Shadab took three wickets each while Amir got 2. Pakistan won the match by 49 runs and Harris Sohail was adjudged Man of the Match.
Watch: South African Innings (Fall of Wickets)
https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1142863806198140930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
STATS
- Imran Tahir becomes the highest wicket-taker for South Africa in World Cup history. He has now taken 39 wickets.
- Harris Sohail scored 89 runs at the strike rate of 150.84, the third best strike rate for Pakistan in World Cup after Imran Khan (169.69 v SL in 1983) and Inzamam (162.16 v NZ in 1992).
- Forty-four runs by Fakhar and Imam today is the highest same score by openers in a WC match.