Pakistan’s weaknesses against South Africa in Twenty 20 series
It seemed as if Pakistan was following a script from a batting tragedy in both Twenty 20 matches against South Africa in the U.A.E.
Pakistan lost early wickets in both matches and failed to provide the much needed boost at the start of the innings.
In the second T20i, both the openers fell cheaply as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahzaib-Hasan-c2488 was sent back to the pavilion by Tsotsobe in the second over when he played a shot across the line, which was back of a length and scooped it to Botha at midwicket.
Mohammad Hafeez, who looked promising for a moment was the next casualty as he was bowled by Morkel in the 4th over. He was not sure whether to steer or cut and in the process got an inside edge onto his stumps.
Pakistan was 29-2 in the fourth over and adding to their misery they were restricted to 29-3 in the next over. Imran Farhat was bowled by Tsotsobe when he was predetermined to go for a big shot on the leg side. Pakistan’s batting has become a big question
mark over the years and one wonders when we are going to see some responsibility from their batsmen.
In the next two over’s Pakistan lost its two vital wickets when both Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi were dismissed in consecutive overs. Umar Akmal was run out after a mix up with Misbah ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi in pursuit of pushing the run rate was caught
by Smith at deep point off Theron’s bowling. Pakistan were reduced to 39-5 in 7.2 over’s and from there on struggled to make runs at a
steady pace.
For Pakistan some relief was added by Abdul Razzaq and Misbah ul-Haq when both of them had a partnership of 45 runs in the middle of the innings. It was an important time and Pakistan could not have afforded losing more wickets. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421 did look impressive
before falling to a full toss from Theron.
Misbah ul-Haq was slow in his approach like yesterday and exploded only at the end. In the 18th over he managed to hit a six off Morkel over long on and one ball later hit a boundary towards the backward square leg boundary.
In the last over Pakistan lost three quick wickets and was not able to hit major boundaries in that over. Zulqarnain Haider did provide some resilience by scoring a run a ball 17 runs with one four after being bowled off a length ball from Theron.
Pakistan added one more run to their yesterday’s total of 119 by posting 120. It was a meagre target of 121, giving their bowlers little to defend.
South Africa in pursuit of the target and to clinch the series started steadily. They scored 38 runs for the opening partnership until Bosman was given leg before off the bowling of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 in the 6th over. He made 11 runs off 16 balls.
Smith and de Villiers had a brief partnership of 25 runs before de Villiers was caught by Farhat off the bowling of Hafeez. It was unlike de Villiers, who scored 11 runs off 15 balls with no boundaries. Graeme Smith was not smooth in his innings and seemed
to be struggling. He scored 38 runs off 42 balls and was stumped off Ajmal in the thirteenth over.
South Africa at that time was 68-3 and needed 53 runs off 40 balls. It was the perfect situation for Pakistan to exploit as they had dismissed two of their prime batsmen in quick succession and had the run rate factor in their favour.
Pakistan had the bowling options and could have applied more pressure. But again Ingram and Duminy came to the party and provided a stand of 41 runs in 21 balls at a crucial time. For Pakistan, the culprits were their seamers as both of them were punished.
Ingram played an impressive knock of 31 runs off 17 balls with 4 fours and one six. He knocked Shoaib Akhtar for a six over long-on in the 17th over followed by two fours on the square leg side.
18 runs came off Shoaib Akhtar’s last over as it almost ended Pakistan’s expectation of a tight finish. He was dismissed in that over when he was caught in the long-on region but the damage had been done. Duminy again played a responsible knock of 20 and
Miller contributed a small knock of 6 runs as South Africa reached their target in the 18th over with 6 balls to spare.
For http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, Afridi was impressive with the bowling figures of 1/19 from his four overs, along with Hafeez. Shoaib and Gul both went for runs and were not able to provide a major breakthrough.
It was a rather disappointing series for Pakistan in which batting was the main factor for a series loss. Had the batting been better for Pakistan, competition would have been better. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757’s Rusty Theron was named Man-of-the-Match for his 4 wicket
haul. Botha was named Man-of-the-Series for his overall disciplined and tactful bowling.
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