Johannesburg
South Africa survived an astonishing onslaught from Fakhar Zaman to secure a series-levelling 17-run win against Pakistan in Johannesburg.
Zaman’s 155-ball 193 was heroic, a one-man show in the truest sense of the word because no other Pakistani managed more than 31 in a chase of 342.
It is the highest score in a chase in ODI cricket history, and the second highest ever in a losing cause.
Zaman also surpassed Herchelle Gibbs’ 175 to record the highest individual score at this venue.
After several stutters, South Africa did manage to get over the line, hanks to a commanding batting performance spearheaded by the top order.
Captain Temba Bavuma top-scored with 92, while Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller each brought up half-centuries, allowing South Africa to post 341 in the face of a listless bowling effort from the visitors.
Pakistan were never really in the chase right until the final 15 overs; once Zaman brought up his first ODI hundred in two years, he would run riot.
Despite finishing with the highest score by a Pakistani in ODI cricket in South Africa, it always looked like an unassailable task, and in truth, proved so by some distance in the end.
Pakistan have never chased a total of this magnitude in ODI cricket, and a daunting challenge became even tougher when Imam-ul-Haq, one of the protagonists for the side at SuperSport Park, fell in the second over.
For a brief while, Pakistan looked to have course-corrected with a 63-run partnership that exuded easy elegance from the bats of both Azam and Zaman.
But Pakistan’s bane on Friday, Nortje, would return to haunt them once more, exploiting a vulnerability against the short ball that brought about the seismic wicket of Azam in his first over.
Two balls later, he would dismiss Mohammad Rizwan, and just like that, Pakistan’s most in-form batsmen had been taken out of the equation.
It was an uncharacteristic innings through the middle from Zaman, as he reined in his belligerent instincts while the middle order crumbled around him.
Danish Aziz was no match for Nortje’s short lengths, while Shadab Khan and Asif Ali had little to contribute.
Around that time, Zaman decided to go hell for leather once more, bringing up a 70-ball half-century with a colossal six over square leg.
That point on, the shackles were off, and even as wickets fell and the asking rate rose, runs off Zaman’s bat came freely.
In what seemed like a flash, he had brought up a hundred, and farmed the strike while plundering South Africa’s bowlers, particularly the spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.
Temba Bavuma persisted with him for an over too many even as Zaman singled him out and at one point struck five sixes in six balls off the spinner, bringing a ballooning asking rate back under control.—Agencies
