Photo: ZEE News
Pakistan showed their unpredictability as they beat South Africa by 29 runs. After being outplayed by India and West Indies in their earlier matches, very few had predicted such a result for Pakistan against South Africa. But they have proved all those predictions wrong by winning a crucial match.
Batting first Pakistan posted a total of 222 runs for the loss of all their wickets. The batting once again failed to deliver and Misbah Ul Haq (56) for one more time turned out to be Pakistan’s top scorer with the bat. Sarfraz Ahmed who came in the side in place of misfiring Nasir Jamshed scored a crucial 49 that gave Pakistan a better start compared to their previous outings. But the middle order failed to deliver and the neat result could be seen on the scoreboard. Dale Steyn was the best among the South African bowlers as he picked up 3 wickets giving away just 30 runs in his 10 overs. Kyle Abbott and Morne Morkel took 2 wickets each as Pakistan failed to play the full 50 overs.
As South Africa came out to bat their target was revised to 232 as there was a rain interruption during the Pakistan which resulted in a loss of time. Quinton De Kock failed to make an impact for one more time and it was up to Hashim Amla (38) first and then AB de Villiers (77) to rescue them from a tense. But it was not their day. Once De Villiers got out it was just a matter of time for a famous victory for Pakistan. Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz got 3 wickets each as they looked unstoppable in the middle.
With this crucial victory Pakistan find them in a better spot for qualifying into the next round. They now sit pretty ahead of South Africa with 6 points but with a better net run rate. Even if they lose their last match against Ireland, they will not find it much difficult to get into the next round but in that case they will have to depend on the result of the match between West Indies and UAE, in which a big win for West Indies will see through ahead of Pakistan. However a win in the last match will see through without any complication.
Tags: ICC World Cup 2015 ICC world cup cricket 2015
