Pakistan vs South Africa 3rd T20I Match Highlights: Nawaz opens the door for Pakistan to win the series

South Africa and Pakistan met in the third and final T20 match of the series at Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore) on Sunday night, February 14. After being whitewashed in the Test series, the two teams tied 1-1 in the T20 series. Today both of the teams went on the field hoping to win the series in the last and final match. Mohammad Nawaz’s superb all-round performance helped Pakistan to defeat the Proteas by 4 wickets.

Pakistani captain Babar Azam decided to field after winning the toss and sent South Africa to bat.

Batting first, South African batsmen fell under the fierce of Pakistani bowlers. Protea batsmen fell under pressure losing 2 wickets in the first 2 overs due to Pakistani bowler Mohammad Nawaz’s extraordinary bowling. The visitors lost six wickets for 49 runs in eight overs. Then the experienced batsman David Miller brought the Proteas back to the match from the edge of the ditch. South Africa collected a challenging score, thanks to his devastating innings of 85 runs off 45 balls where he hit 5 fours and 7 sixes. The visitors lost 8 wickets in 20 overs and scored 164 runs. Zahid Mahmood (3-40, 4 overs), Mohammad Nawaz (2-13, 2 overs), Hasan Ali (2-29, 4 overs), and Usman Qadir (1-12, 3 overs) took the wickets for Pakistan.

Pakistan made a good start coming down to bat for 165 runs. The hosts picked up 51 runs in the first 6 overs without losing a wicket. Then they lost 5 wickets to score 118 runs in 15 overs in the controlled bowling of Tabraiz Shamsi. Later, Nawaz Ali (18) and Hasan Ali (20) batted well and took the team to the port of victory. Captain Babar Azam (44) scored the highest run for the team. Tabraiz Shamsi was the highest wicket-taker for South Africa (4-25, 4 overs).

After winning this match, the host Pakistan won the T20 series (2-1). On the other hand, the Proteas will return home with defeat on both the Test and T20 series.

Playing XIs:

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Haider Ali, Hasan Ali, Asif Ali, Babar Azam (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Zahid Mahmood, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi.  

South Africa: Janneman Malan, Pite van Biljon, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Reeza Hendricks, Jon-Jon Smuts, Heinrich Klaasen (c & wk), Andile Phehlukwayo, Bjorn Fortuin, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla.

Scoreboard: 

South Africa – 164/8 (20.0)

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Hendricks, 1.5 over), 2-24 (Smuts, 3.6 over), 3-41 (Biljon, 5.6 over), 4-46 (Klaasen, 6.3 over), 5-46 (Malan, 6.4 over), 6-48 (Phehlukwayo, 7.2 over), 7-65 (Pretorius, 10.4 over), 8-106 (Fortuin, 15.1 over)

Pakistan – 169/6 (18.4)

Fall of wickets: 1-51 (Haider, 6.1 over), 2-73 (Rizwan, 8.6 over), 3-84 (Talat, 10.5 over), 4-112 (Babar, 13.6 over), 5-117 (Asif, 14.4 over), 6-137 (Faheem, 16.6 over)

Result – Pakistan won by 4 wickets

Player of the Match – Mohammad Nawaz

Player of the Series – Mohammad Rizwan

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