Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side, who must win their remaining three fixtures to stand any chance of progressing to the knockout stages, posted 308-7 with Haris Sohail top-scoring with 89. In reply, Proteas captain Faf du Plessis scored 63 and opener
Quinton de Kock made 47 but South Africa still fell 49 runs short with Wahab Riaz and Shadab Khan taking three wickets. The result sees Pakistan climb to joint-sixth in the World Cup table, while South Africa has become the second team to be eliminated after Afghanistan.
Pakistan made a fine start to their innings before Imran Tahir dismissed both openers to become South Africa’s leading wicket-taker at World Cups. Babar Azam ensured Pakistan remained in a good position throughout their innings with a composed fifty, however, before the talented
Haris took charge. The 30-year-old smashed nine fours and three sixes to take Pakistan past 300 before being caught for 89 in the final over off Lungi Ngidi, who finished with three wickets. South Africa somewhat recovered after Hashim Amla was trapped in front in the second over, but lost regular wickets during the middle overs to fall to 136-4.
Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller tried to put South Africa back in contention but any hope of a successful run-chase was dashed when both fell in quick succession. The defeat is South Africa’s fifth from seven World Cup games and sees them crash out of the tournament with two games still to play.
Speaking after the defeat, Du Plessis said: ‘We’re not playing great cricket. I thought we started poorly with the ball and then made the same mistakes with the bat. ‘We’ve still got two games left and we need to improve because we are letting ourselves down at the moment.’
No comments:
Post a Comment