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Pakistan keep series alive with sensational victory

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As the series moves towards its deciding stages, South Africa received two welcome boosts to their team for the 4th One Day International, in shape of the returning pair of Captain Graeme Smith and the world’s highest ranked fast bowler http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn.
Rusty Theron and Albie Morkel were the ones to miss out, the third change for South Africa was a forced one, Lonwabo Tsotsobe was left out due to a slight niggle, and Wayne Parnell had to be picked in his place. Pakistan made only one change to their line-up,
leaving out misfiring spinner Saeed Ajmal and picking up left arm orthodox spinner Abdul Rehman in his place.
Returning South African captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat first. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757’s start was not ideal, as Shoaib Akhtar removed the in-form Hashim Amla for a low score of 10 with only 35 on the board.
Kallis went soon after for 15 slog-sweeping Mohammad Hafeez, who has been bowling outstandingly for Pakistan for the last two games.
Graeme Smith however, was looking pretty confident on his return and was his usual smashing self getting to his 50 off just 57 balls that included 7 hits to the boundary. The partnership between him and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887 moved on at a good rate despite neither
of the batsmen taking too many risks.
Even though the Pakistani spinners bowled some good stuff, the South Africa duo negotiated them really well while also pouncing on any loose deliveries. The 94-run partnership was finally ended by Mohammad Hafeez who picked Smith up for a fine 105-ball 92
in the 31st over.
The 4th wicket partnership between de Villiers and Duminy started off slowly. The partnership was broken at a key stage by Shoaib Akhtar who bagged the wicket of de Villiers for 49 in the 41st over, denting South Africa’s hopes of batting
Pakistan out of the game.
Wahab Riaz pegged the Proteas further back, bowling http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JP-Duminy-c1742 for 36 in the 47th over when he was looking to up the ante, and then bowling Miller for nought with a beauty the very next delivery.
In the end however http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Johan-Botha-c67173 played some ingenious shots in his brilliant cameo of 28 runs from 15 balls, while Colin Ingram supported him quite well with 27 off 25 balls. The 48-run partnership off just 22 balls thus propelled South Africa to an unlikely
looking total of 274 that would push the Pakistani batting to the limit if they were to get even close to their target.
Pakistani bowlers did manage to drag the team back into the match a fair few times with wickets at crucial junctures, but the team were again left ruing missed opportunities in the field, which if taken could have resulted in South Africa scoring less than
250.
In reply, Pakistan opener Imran Farhat was back in the pavilion in the first over out lbw in predictable fashion being stuck on the crease while trying to drive a full delivery, though replays suggested the ball might have missed the stumps.
Mohammad Hafeez then played a pure gem, scoring 42 off 29 before playing an unnecessary across the line shot that led to his dismissal.
Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan too got together in a good partnership of 56 runs, during which Younis looked to have set his anchor down for a long innings. Asad Shafiq’s needless run out in the 23rd over brought Fawad Alam to the crease whose early
dismissal must have sent some nervous jitters through the Pakistani dressing room.
Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 was his in his usual swashbuckling mode, caring neither about the target nor about the wickets as he scored a quick fire 29, before being dismissed in the 32nd over.
Razzaq and Younis then combined in a vital 49-run partnership that served to calm Pakistani nerves.
But three quick wickets of Younis Khan, Abdur Rehman and Abdur http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 in the space of almost 4 overs seemed to have thrown Pakistan off-track for good.
Zulqarnain Haider and Wahab Riaz then showed admirable composure in their match winning partnership of 28 runs that steered Pakistan to within 3 runs of victory in the final over before Wahab’s frantic run out. Wicketkeeper Zulqarnain however held his nerve
and steered Pakistan to a 1 wicket one with 1 ball left while remaining unbeaten for 19 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s thrilling victory has left the series fantastically poised for the final game in Dubai on Monday.
Looking at all the series, it seems that the winner will be the team which holds its nerve better in crucial stages of the match.

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