Heinrich Klaasen won his first toss as captain of South Africa and chose to bowl in the first T20I against at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Thursday.
Klaasen is leading a young, inexperienced team missing the likes of regular skipper Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi. After losing the test series 2-0 earlier this week, the Proteas returned home as scheduled after the second test in Rawalpindi to prepare for a tour by Australia, but their opponents pulled out late, citing Covid-19 fears.
The series will enable Pakistan to tune up for their Pakistan Super League (PSL) later this month while both teams are gearing up for the T20 World Cup in India in October and November.
PAKISTAN: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (capt), Haider Ali, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Qadir, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf
SOUTH AFRICA: Janneman Malan, Reeza Hendricks, Jacques Snyman, Heinrich Klaasen (capt & wk), David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Bjorn Fortuin, Junior Dala, Lutho Sipamla, Tabraiz Shamsi