Pakistan vs. South Africa 1st ODI, 23rd November 2013.

               Finally Pakistan break the shatters as they get back on the winning tracks and finally defeat South Africa in the 1st ODI on their short tour on the Protean Land.
            bat first. South Africa side welcomed Jacques Kallis where as Pakistan brought on two new ODI faces in the form of Anwar Ali and Bilawal Bhatti.
 The match was played yesterday. Pakistan won the toss and decided to
             Pakistan started their batting very cautiously and made sure that they didn't lose any wicket but still the scoring rate was very low one. Finally Pakistan lost their 1st wicket in the form of Nasir Jamshed to Dale Steyn and then what, the line started up to scramble up. Again Steyn caught his regular prey , Muhammad Hafeez for just 5 runs. Some resistance was shown by Shahid Afridi & Sohaib Maqsood who scored 22 and 26 runs respectively. Soon Pakistan were 131 runs/ 7 wickets. However 2 debutants stepped up with a lot of confidence and palyed a much needed cameo. Bilawal Bhatti scored 39 runs and Anwar Ali stood upto 42* runs. The debutants gave themselves something to bowl at by taking Pakistan to 218 runs/9 wickets in the complete 50 overs.
             South Africa didn't have a huge task but it still had to be done. Pakistani bowlers straight went on the top as they got rid of Hashim Amla and Greame Smith pretty quickly. Jacques Kallis had some other ideas as he scored exact 50 runs in his come back but he could stay no longer. The game initially favored the Proteas initially but the debutants, Bilawal Bhatti and Anwar Ali again made their mark by getting 3 and 2 wickets respectively. JP Duminy fought hard till end for his 49 runs but neither he could do a thing for his team. Shahid Afridi again grasped AB de Villiers' wicket. Finally Pakistan successfully defended the total what looked well below under the average par score and did what had been undone for the past month or so and won by 23 runs.
          Man of the Match was awarded to Anwar Ali due to his amazing all-around perormance on the field. Pakistan are now 1-0 up in the 3 match series. Let's see if the Asians can wrap up the series in 6the next match or The Proteas return wwith an immense fire in the coming two matches........