Pakistan beat South Africa by 19 runs in Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method on Wednesday at Edgbaston Cricket Ground to record their first win of this year’s Champions Trophy.
Winning the toss, South African skipper AB de Villiers opted to bat first. Pakistan staged an immensely improved bowling show as Green Shirts bounded South Africa’s batting strength confining them to 219 after 50 overs. Pakistan opened the bowling with Amir and Junaid Khan.
However, spin was introduced after only eight overs and soon Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez pegged back the Proteas with their impeccable line and length. The spin show featured the first one-day golden duck for South Africa captain AB de Villiers in ODI cricket. Imad Wasim took two wickets and Hafeez claimed one wicket as the top-order was dismantled early in the piece.
Man of the Match Hasan Ali (Photo - Getty Images)
Pacer Hasan Ali though was the star for Pakistan as he even outdid the spinners with an inspired spell of bowling in the middle overs.
Hasan picked three wickets for 24 runs with one maiden over in his spell. David Miller played a gutsy innings of 75 not out that helped South Africa cross the 200 runs mark, the Proteas ended their innings at 219 for 8 in the allotted 50 overs.
Chasing 220, Pakistan openers started decently with the debutant Fakhar Zaman rising to the occasion with his quick fire 31 runs including six 4s.
After Pakistan lost two wickets in quick succession Babar Azam and Hafeez consolidated and absorbed the pressure created by some accurate and hostile bowling by Morne Morkel and Chris Morris.
The debutante opener Fakhar Zaman impressed in the do-or-die encounter for Pakistan (Photo - ICC)
After the 19th over Pakistan started to score freely, Hafeez fell attempting to up the scoring rate, his attempted hook shot was smartly caught by Imran Tahir as Morkel captured his third wicket of the innings.
Shoaib Malik, the new man in, added pace to the batting innings with three quick boundaries, which put Pakistan 19 runs ahead of South Africa under DLS method when rain sat in.
Play was halted due to rain and when there was no chance to resume the play due to unfavorable conditions the match was called off in Pakistan’s favor. Pakistan were 119 for three when the match ended, Morkel bagged the three wickets that fell.
Shoaib Malik edges the ball away towards the boundary at Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. (Photo - Getty Images)
Hasan was named Man of the Match; the youngster was elated with his match winning contribution. "It is very important, for me, to get man of the match award since it is my maiden ICC event. I am very happy. It was a team effort. I followed my plan and we all stuck to our plan. I dropped a catch in the last game, so I identified I had to cover that aspect of the game too today.”
Scorecard: http://www.pcb.com.pk/match/30181.html
