We had no right to get so close - Klaasen

Pakistan’s astonishing collapse from 92 for one to 129 for seven in the fourth and final T20 International against South Africa almost cost them the game – and the series win – but Proteas skipper Heinrich Klaasen was honest enough to admit that they were gifted a chance to square the series rather than earning it.

“We had no right to get so close at the back end of the innings,” Klaasen said. “I can’t fault our bowlers and fielders to get us so close. They showed great character and fight tonight.

“Of course it was disappointing, we are a very good squad of young cricketers with unbelievable talent, so it’s disappointing to lose the series 3-1. But I was proud of them tonight, they showed great talent and great fight,” Klaasen said before mentioning the fact that several of his players had significantly improved their reputations early in their international careers.

“It was a great opportunity for some young players to put their hands up, even as backup players for the big guys who are not here. They showed their skill-sets and showed the selectors that they can perform at this level.”

As with all captains, he wished for greater consistency.

“The gap is too big between our good performances and our bad performances. We showed tonight, and two games ago, that we really can compete and fight as a young group against a team that is playing really good cricket. But the days when we are bad are too bad, the gap is too big. We need to get some more consistency in our performances,” Klaasen said.

Man of the match, Faheem Ashraf, who claimed 3-17 in his four overs, paid tribute to the new ball bowlers for making his job of bowling in the middle overs ‘easy’.

Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, who was man-of-the-series, refused to blame his middle-order batsman for a series of poor shots and preferred to concentrate and the “great achievement” of winning two series in South Africa and said that he would be “concentrating on celebrating the results” as he and his team now head to Zimbabwe for two test matches and another T20I series.