FAISALABAD – South Africa thrashed Pakistan by eight wickets in the second ODI at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium on Thursday to level the series 1-1.
Chasing a decent 270-run target for victory, South Africa crossed the finish line with eight wickets in hand and 59 balls remaining.
Quinton de Kock was the highest scorer for the visitors with an unbeaten 123 off 119 balls, hitting eight fours and seven maximums. Tony de Zorzi made 76 off 63 balls, laced with nine fours and three sixes. Lhuan-dre Pretorius contributed 46 off 40 balls with the help of seven fours and one maximum.
Skipper Matthew Breetzke contributed an unbeaten 17 off 21 balls with the help of one boundary. Mohammad Wasim junior and Faheem Ashraf bagged one wicket each. Quinton de Kock was named Player of the Match for his outstanding contribution with the bat.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Pakistan reached 269/9 in their quota of 50 overs despite losing three key wickets inside five overs with just 22 runs on the board.
Salman Ali Agha was the top scorer for the hosts with 69 off 106 balls, laced with five boundaries. Mohammad Nawaz contributed a valuable 59 off 59 balls in the later stage, hitting three fours and four huge sixes. Saim Ayub made 53 off 66 balls with the help of five fours and one maximum.
Faheem Ashraf made 28 off just 18 balls with the help of two fours and two maximums to give a much-needed boost to the team’s score. Mohammad Wasim made an unbeaten 12 off nine balls, Babar Azam 11 off 13 balls, and Hussain Talat 10 off 20 balls.
Nandre Burger was the pick of the bowlers with a four-wicket haul. Nqaba Peter bagged three wickets while Corbin Bosch took two wickets.
Pakistan Playing XI: 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Salman Agha, 6 Hussain Talat, 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Faheem Ashraf, 9 Shaheen Afridi (capt), 10 Mohammad Wasim Jr, 11 Naseem Shah
South Africa Playing XI: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Tony de Zorzi, 4 Matthew Breetzke (capt), 5 Sinethemba Qeshile, 6 Donovan Ferreira, 7 George Linde, 8 Corbin Bosch, 9 Bjorn Fortuin, 10 Nqaba Peter, 11 Nandre Burger
