Saim’s brilliance powers Pakistan to dominant win over South Africa

Saim Ayub scored a brisk half-century after a clinical bowling display by pacers to help Pakistan level the three–match series 1-1 on Friday.

Saim was firing on all cylinders as he finished with an unbeaten 38-ball 71 along with a record-breaking Babar Azam to clinch the game by nine wickets in 13.1 overs at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Needing just nine runs to become the leading run scorer in the T20Is, Babar finished with 11 not out.

Chasing a modest 111-run target, the home side comfortably knocked the winning runs for the loss of just one wicket and 41 balls to spare.

Pakistan got off to a flying start, with their opening pair of Saim and Sahibzada Farhan putting together a brisk 54-run partnership.

Their partnership was eventually broken by Corbin Bosch in the seventh over when he trapped Farhan lbw with an in-swinger.

The right-handed opener scored 28 off 23 deliveries with the help of three sixes.

The second-wicket partnership between Babar and Saim, was largely dominated by the left-hander, who remained the top-scorer with an unbeaten 71 off just 38 deliveries, smashing six fours and five sixes, while Babar made 11 not out from 18 balls.

Both sides will meet in the series finale on Saturday.

Earlier, Salman Mirza’s early blows, followed by a four-fer by Faheen Ashraf helped Pakistan bowl out South Africa for just 110 in 19.2 overs.

Mirza, who replaced Shaheen Shah Afridi in the playing XI made an instant impact with the ball, as he removed South Africa’s top order pairing up with Naseem Shah.

Put into bat first, Mirza wreaked havoc with the new ball as he knocked out the previous match’s half-century Reeza Hendricks for a duck on the second ball of the match.

Naseem Shah from the other end also supported him well and removed Quinton de Kock for seven. As a result, the visitors were reduced to 12-2 in two overs.

Bowling his third over on trot, Salman, who had earlier dropped Matthew Breetzke (five) off Naseem Shah, repented his mistake by bowling the right-handed batter with a leg-cutter.

With South Africa reeling at 23/4 in 4.4 overs, Dewald Brevis attempted to launch a counterattack by going after the Pakistan pacers, but Faheem drew curtains on his blistering cameo in the eighth over with a short-pitched delivery.

Brevis remained the top-scorer for the visitors with a 16-ball 25, featuring three sixes.

The all-rounder then dismissed South Africa captain Donovan Ferreira (15) and George Linde in his next two overs, respectively, to strengthen Pakistan’s command.

Naseem added to South Africa’s woes in the 14th over by dismissing their all-rounder Corbin Bosch (11), caught behind.

Following the slump, lower-order batters Ottneil Baartman and Nandre Burger (nine) added valuable runs at the backend, putting together 19 runs for the ninth wicket until the latter was dismissed by Abrar Ahmed in the penultimate over.

Faheem was the leading wicket-taker for Pakistan, dismissing four South African batters for just 23 runs in 3.2 overs, followed by Salman Mirza, who gave away just 14 runs in his four to pick up three wickets. Naseem Shah lent ample support with two scalps, while Abrar chipped in with one.

Playing XIs

South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira (c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman, Lungi Ngidi

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Agha(c), Usman Khan(w), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Salman Mirza, Abrar Ahmed