South African captain Heinrich Klaasen was suitably chastened after a numbing, nine-wicket defeat by Pakistan in the third T20 International at Supersport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.
After posting an apparently competitive total of 203 for five after being asked to bat first first, the Proteas were helpless in the face of an astonishing onslaught from Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who struck his second T20 International century, and Mohammad Rizwan who added 197 for the first wicket before Babar was dismissed for 122 from just 59 balls with only seven runs required for victory.
It was Pakistan’s highest opening stand in T20Is and comfortably their highest successful run chase.
“They batted extremely well, we tried a lot of things but they made a lot of good balls look bad but we also didn’t bowl well in stages,” Klaasen admitted.
“The tone in the field was poor from our side, there were a lot of misfields and we have a lot to think about before we have to bounce back in a couple of days,” Klaasen said.
The Proteas stand-in captain denied that there was any complacency in his team after posting an imposing 203 for five: “Not at all, we’ve played a lot of cricket at this stadium, especially domestic cricket, and I’ve seen a lot of pitches like this one where 200 is not enough. It’s a very difficult ground to defend on.
“We knew we would have to be on our ‘A’ game, especially in the field where we needed to make up for the extra 10-15 runs we didn’t score with the bat. We needed to execute with the ball and win five good overs, but there was no complacency, the boys were up for it,” Klaasen said.
South Africa’s ‘missing’ runs with the bat would have given them a total of between 215 and 220 which the Proteas captain suggested would have been no better than ‘par’ in the conditions.
“That was definitely par today. If you bowl really well it can be a winning score but you have to bowl well on this field on a wicket like that. And you have to be special in the field to manufacture something.
“Not one of our batsmen who got to 50 went on to make a big one, an 80 or a hundred. That’s something we can look at, they did that very well today and in the series,” Klaasen said.
Babar, speaking through an interpreter, said: “Our bowlers did leak a lot of runs in the first six overs but I am very proud about the way they came back in the second part of the innings. I am very pleased and proud with what I have achieved today and I enjoyed it very much.”
Pakistan now take a 2-1 lead into the final match of the series at SuperSport Park on Friday.