Sunday, 1 December 2013

Pakistan vs. South Africa, 3rd ODI 30th November,2013

       South Africa beat Pakistan by 4 wickets in the last ODI.

       The third and last match between Pakistan and South Africa in the current year was played on 30 November. Pakistan had already won the series by defeating the 2 earlier games during their tour and getting an unbeatable lead of 2-0 but still the Falcons had an eye on creating another history by clean sweaping the Proteas in their own land where as South Africa were ready for their revenge.
     The toss was won by the Protean Captain "AB de Villiers" who choose to field first. Both the teams had 3 changes. Umar Amin, Asad Shafiq and Sohail Tanvir came in for Muhammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed and Junaid Khan on the Pakistani side while Henry Davids, Wayne Parnell and Vernon Philander came in place of Greame Smith, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn for the Protean side.
   Pakistan looked in deep deep trouble as they lost two early wickets of the in form Ahmad Shahzad for a Duck and Asad Shafiq for a 1 run only. It took no sooner for McLaren,Philander and Imran Tahir to get rid of Umar Amin(25 runs), Sohaib Maqsood(25 runs), Umar Akmal(5 runs), Anwer Ali(1 run), Bilawal Bhatti(1 run), Abdur Rehman(22 runs) and Sohail Tanvir(6 runs) and the final touches were given by Wayne Parnell who dismissed Saeed Ajmal for a Duck. On the other hand Pakistani Captain Misbah-ul-Haq had a solid defence who kept on resisting and played a gem of 79* runs followed by 2 immense sixes! Little Partnerships of the skipper with Abdur Rehman and Sohaib Maqsood still took Pakistan to a decent total of 179 runs/10 wickets(46.5 overs). 

    Vernon Philander proved to be the stand out for the Proteans with his excellent figures of 10 overs-3 maidens-26 runs-3 wickets.   
    Though the target wasn't a tough one on a track which was never difficult to bat on still Pakistan tried extremely hard to pull back the things but it was too late. South Africa started strongly with Hashim Amla & Quinton de Kock up front who put together 39 runs. de Kock(15 runs) was soon dismissed by Bilawal Bhatti and no sooner Henry Davids(5 runs) went back to the pavilion. Hashim Amla(41 runs) also went to the dressing room as a result of a run out. Then entered the skipper AB de Villiers who played an excellent innings and made sure that his side went safely through. Though wickets kept on falling but the skipper remained as cool as a cucumber and took his team home with an excellent innings of 48* runs and  won the match by 4 wickets with 68 balls to spare. However Pakistan still won the series by 2--1.
   Man of the Match was awarded to Vernon Philander for his excellent figures while Saeed Ajmal was give the Man of the Series for being the safe man to his captain when he was needed.
    Still a lot to come as South Africa host India and Pakistan host Srilanka in U.A.E. Until then "bye-bye".              

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