Saim Ayub’s brilliant 98 off 57 balls helped Pakistan set a 207-run target for South Africa in the second T20I at Centurion Park on Friday.
Saim opened the innings for Pakistan with skipper Mohammad Rizwan and maintained a steady flow of runs.
However, the skipper’s innings was short-lived as he fell to Otniel Baartman after scoring just 11 runs off 13 balls.
Saim was joined by Babar Azam, who hit back-to-back fours. The Men in Green’s scoreboard was ticking at 45/1 after the end of the Powerplay.
Meanwhile, the duo continued to bat steadily and took Pakistan to 90/1 at the end of the 10th over, with Saim approaching his half-century and Babar scoring 29 runs off 16 balls with the help of three fours and a six.
Sime continued to cross the 50-point mark in style as he first scored four goals followed by six to Nqabayomzi Peter.
The momentum of the Babar-Saim partnership was broken in the next over when the former skipper fell to George Linde after scoring 31 runs off 20 deliveries, taking Pakistan’s score to 112/2.
After Babar’s dismissal, the Proteas players found themselves back in the game as Dayan Galim sent Usman Khan back to the wing in the next over (13th over).
Things got serious for Pakistan as Tayyab Tahir was also out off the first ball of the 15th over – bowled by Galem after scoring a six.
However, Sime did not budge from the pressure and continued to hammer the South African bowlers all over the pitch.
Sime was then involved in another crucial partnership for Pakistan when he added 73 runs for the fifth wicket with middle-order batsman Mohammad Irfan Khan, who played a useful inning for 30 runs off just 16 deliveries.
Irfan’s dismissal in the final over paved the way for Abbas Afridi, who added valuable runs at the death with a four-ball 11, while Saim remained stuck on 98 not out.
Pakistan ended the innings with a score of 206 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. Saim Ayub top-scored for Pakistan with a 57-ball 98, which included 11 fours and five sixes.
Dayan Galem and Bartman took two wickets each for South Africa, while Linde scored a wicket.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and invited South Africa to field first.
Playing eleven
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicket-keeper), Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Haris Rauf and Abrar Ahmed.
South Africa: Rhys Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dusen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaassen (captain and wicket-keeper), Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Dejan Galem, Otniel Bartman, Peter Nkaba and Kwena Mafaka.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more details