South Africa knocked out Pakistan for 270 in their World Cup opener in Chennai on Friday, with left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi taking four wickets. The 33-year-old concluded with 4-60, while paceman Marco Jansen took 3-43 after Pakistan won the toss and batted, hoping to resurrect their World Cup ambitions.
Pakistan vs South Africa: South Africa holds struggling Pakistan to 270 in a must-win game
Pakistan has lost three of its five matches, while South Africa has won four and lost one. Saud Shakeel hit a spirited run-a-ball 52, skipper Babar Azam a steady 65-ball 50, while Shadab Khan chipped in with an aggressive 36-ball 43. Pakistan can take encouragement from the fact that South Africa lost to the Netherlands in Dharamsala last week despite chasing 246. Pakistan would have scored less runs if Shakeel and Shadab hadn’t elevated them with an 84-run sixth-wicket stand off 71 balls after Azam was out at 141.
Shadab hit two sixes and three boundaries, while Shakeel’s second fifty had seven shots to the rope. Jansen struck Pakistan early, dismissing openers Abdullah Shafique (9) and Imam-ul-Haq (12) in the first seven overs. Azam and Mohammad Rizwan combined 48 runs for the third wicket, with Rizwan scoring 31 with a six and four boundaries.
With Iftikhar Ahmed, who struck 21 with a six and a boundary, the skipper added another 43 for the next wicket. Shamsi caught Iftikhar at long-on and Azam swept behind the wicket to ruin the innings until Shakeel and Shadab rebuilt. Fast bowler Gerald Cotzee broke the stand in the 40th over, dismissing Shadab, while Shamsi dismissed Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi (two).
