RAWALPINDI – South Africa defeated Pakistan by 55 runs in the first T20 match of the series.
Playing in Rawalpindi, Pakistan’s innings ended at 139 runs in 18.1 overs while chasing the target of 195.
For Pakistan, Saim Ayub top-scored with 37 runs, followed by Mohammad Nawaz (36), Sahibzada Farhan (24), Usman Khan (12), Naseem Shah (9), Shaheen Shah Afridi (4), Hasan Nawaz (3), captain Agha Salman (2), Faheem Ashraf (1), and Babar Azam, who was dismissed without scoring.
For South Africa, Corbin Bosch took 4 wickets, George Linde grabbed 3, while Lizaad Williams and Lungi Ngidi took 2 and 1 wicket, respectively.
Earlier, batting first after being invited by Pakistan, South Africa scored 194 runs for 9 wickets in the allotted overs.
Among the Proteas, Reeza Hendricks starred with 60 runs, while George Linde (36), Tony de Zorzi (33), Quinton de Kock (23), captain Donovan Ferreira (10), Dewald Brevis (9), Corbin Bosch (7), Lizaad Williams (3), and Matthew Breetzke (1) contributed modestly.
From Pakistan’s bowling attack, Mohammad Nawaz took 3 wickets, Saim Ayub claimed 2, and Abrar Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Naseem Shah picked up one wicket each.
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Ali Agha (c), Usman Khan (wk), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira (c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Lizaad Williams, Nandre Burger and Lungi Ngidi.
