South Africa escaped a narrow scare as they beat Pakistan.

South Africa escaped a narrow scare as they beat Pakistan by one wicket.

The Proteas continue their successful World Cup Campaign as they narrowly escape defeat to Pakistan.

(Cricket News) South Africa were put to the test against Pakistan as they were made to chase 270 on the slow and sluggish pitch of Chennai. South Africa have a great record of batting first in ODI matches, but not so much while chasing. In this match, the proteas proved their naysayers wrong and emerged victorious.

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first, knowing South Africa’s poor record while chasing. Pakistan had a wobbly start to their innings as they were 58-2 after the powerplay, with both their openers being dismissed by Marco Jansen.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan tried to rebuild their innings by rotating strike and finding gaps. While this was happening, Rizwan and Marco Jansen had a staredown, and a few words were exchanged. Mohammad Rizwan was looking good, but he was dismissed by Gerald Coetzee.

Babar Azam scored his third fifty in this World Cup, but he could not convert it into a big innings as he was dismissed by Tabraiz Shamsi. Middle-order contributions from Saud Shakeel, Shadab, and Mohammad Nawaz propelled the innings total to 270, which was a good target considering the pitch.

End of first innings: Pakistan 270-10; Saud Shakeel 52 (52); Babar Azam 50 (65); Tabraiz Shamsi 10-60-0-4; Marco Jasen 9-43-1-3.

South Africa had a poor start to their innings as they lost both of their openers in the powerplay. The strong batting lineup we have seen in previous games was put to the test on this slow pitch. The middle-order batsman ended up scoring in the 20’s as they could not counterattack in the conditions that were given to them. Aiden Markram was the pick of the batsmen, scoring 91 in 93 deliveries.

South Africa was in trouble when Markram was dismissed. Suddenly, they needed 20 runs to win with 3 wickets in hand and 9 overs left. Following this wicket, Haris Rauf picked up the wicket of Lungi Ngidi in one of the catches of the tournament so far. South Africa needed 7 runs to win with 1 wicket in hand and 16 balls left. A close appeal for LBW almost saw Pakistan win; unfortunately, the ball tracking said it was umpires call.

With three runs to win, Keshav Maharaj smashes it to fine leg, and South Africa beat Pakistan by the barest of margins. This win saw South Africa jump to the first position in the points table, while the loss to Pakistan might get them a group stage exit.