An unbeaten 74 from 50 balls by opener Mohammad Rizwan led Pakistan to a four-wicket victory with one ball to spare against South Africa in their T20 International at the Wanderers on Saturday afternoon.
Chasing an imposing 189 for victory the tourists were struggling with 38 runs from the final three overs but a series of blunders from the home side and a fine cameo of 30 from just 14 balls (4x4, 1x6) by Faheem Ashraf saw Pakistan achieve their highest ever successful T20I run chase.
Beuran Hendricks bowled brilliantly in his first three overs for figures of 3-16 but delivered three full tosses at the start of his final over – the 18th of the innings – which were despatched for 14 runs to bring Pakistan back into the game. Debutants Lizaad Williams and Sisanda Magala were unable to defend 22 from the final two overs as the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.
Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen both scored half-centuries to lead the Proteas to an imposing total of 188-6 after winning the toss and opting to bat first with both men putting a disappointing ODI series behind them.
Markram struck eight fours and a six in his 51 from 32 balls while stand-in captain Klaasen smashed four sixes and just two fours in a brutal innings of 50 from only 28 deliveries.
Opener Janneman Malan gave the innings a flying start with 24 from just 16 deliveries with a pair of fours and sixes before being trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz who was comfortably the pick of the tourists attack with an impressive 2-21 from his four overs while every other bowler suffered on a perfect batting pitch.
Markram fell to a thin edge against Nawaz while Klaasen’s fine innings came to an end when he was deceived by a slower ball from Hasan Ali resulting in his lap-sweep falling tamely into the hands of Fakhar Zaman at short fine leg.
Pite van Biljon struck two sixes in his 34 from 24 balls before slapping a low full toss from left-arm seamer Shaheen Afridi to Nawaz on the cover boundary and Pakistan fought back in style in the closing overs to keep the total below 200.
Magala suffered a horror start to his international career with a first over costing 19 runs starting with a no-ball which was hit to the boundary by Babar Azam and concluding with a 4,6,4 sequence from opener Mohammad Rizwan.
Babar (14) was well caught on the boundary by another debutant, Lizaad Williams, off the bowling of Beuran Hendricks while the in-form Fakhar Zaman (27) heaved a Tabraiz Shamsi delivery to deep midwicket only to see Malan pluck the ball from the air on the boundary’s edge and lob back in play as he lost balance, stepped over the boundary and recover to complete the dismissal.
Veteran Mohammad Hafeez (13) missed a Shamsi googly and was stumped by Klaasen before Hendricks outfoxed Haider Ali (14) with a slow, knee-high full-toss which trapped him lbw.
With the asking rate climbing to 12 runs per over Pakistan appeared to be struggling but wretched death-bowling and two dropped catches in the final three overs helped them to a rousing victory.
SOUTH AFRICA: Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (capt & wk), Wihan Lubbe, Pite van Biljon, George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Sisanda Magala, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi
PAKISTAN: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf