M. Rizwan (104*) & Usman Qadir (2/21) star in a 3-run win for Pakistan vs South Africa in 1st T20I

[Titan24]

SA needs a Carlos Braithwate type of knock here

 

[Bilal_103]

Hé does, but lacks a brain

so theres a chance he turns out alright

 

[Suleiman]

FAHEEM FOR LAST OVER???! )

Come on man

 

[Amirforpresident]

I second this.

Overall he is still one of our better death options, though. Having said that he is as brainless as the likes of Wahab/Usman/Sami and can seriously mess it up for us on the big stage. I definitely feel a lot more comfortable seeing someone like Hasnain bowl instead.

Wait, what happend to Haris the new ball bowler? The one we saw in the one day cup, the one that was swinging it away from the right handers at high pace.

 

[Bilal_103]

Rana trundler

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

6 to win. What a farce.

 

[ARK Rafay]

Pace off bouncer of last ball?

 

[Amirforpresident]

This is really embarrassing

 

[Titan24]

FAHEEM FOR LAST OVER???! )

Come on man

No one else there. Babar did well to bowl his frontline seamers earlier I think

 

[Bilal_103]

Faheem is not a good bowler

 

[Justcrazy]

Pakistan have won , its a formality now

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Squeaked home. I'll take it.

 

[Suleiman]

Phew.

 

[castortroy]

Very poor batting display by pak

 

[Justcrazy]

Pakistan win by 3 runs

 

[JibranAnsari]

lol elite team just only managed to win.

 

[Bilal_103]

Faheem needs to stick to Test cricket. Hes not suited for t20

 

[Titan24]

Only Rizwan and Qadir stood up today and fortunately Pak still won. Other needs to do more.

Overall good match for the viewers

 

[Snowflake]

This SA side should more fire than their "full strength" squad. We would have smoked the full strength squad. So, this victory means more in that sense

 

[Bilal_103]

seeing our fast bowlers get carted makes me miss the days of Umar gul

 

[Titan24]

Really happy for Rizwan, he is the kind of team player who couldn’t have been able to enjoy his knock if Pak would have lost

 

[Titan24]

While the bowling of Pak was disappointing aside Qadir and maybe Nawaz but, a bit of leeway can be given due to dew. Still need to improve

 

[Kroll]

Ghar ke sher win again.

 

[hitthestump]

What an awful win. Take Babar, Rizwan and Qadir out of the side and we'll be carted by Bangladesh for sure.

Better hope that Hafeez Malik and Amir can all come and save us from humilation by the time the WC rolls around

 

[IAJ]

Faheem bowling the last over, yeh bhi din dekhnay kou anay they

 

[IAJ]

What an awful win. Take Babar, Rizwan and Qadir out of the side and we'll be carted by Bangladesh for sure.

Better hope that Hafeez Malik and Amir can all come and save us from humilation by the time the WC rolls around

Will not mind Aamir, but the other two should stay away.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Babar scoring 0; rest of batsmen failing as expected and only Rizwan firing... an incredible effort by Pak bowlers to defend a below par total in horrendous conditions...


BTW, Rizwan is worth his weight in gold. Every good team needs a solid WK and that he is. His batting is a bonus for us. Wow, what a player.

 

[Artaxerxes]

This South Africa team is not their full team but some of their batsmen are no mug with the bat.South African domestic cricket is very competitive.That is why produce good cricketers.South Africa is not short of talent but they lose games from winning positions.

 

[Shoaibbtt]

Babar scoring 0; rest of batsmen failing as expected and only Rizwan firing... an incredible effort by Pak bowlers to defend a below par total in horrendous conditions...


BTW, Rizwan is worth his weight in gold. Every good team needs a solid WK and that he is. His batting is a bonus for us. Wow, what a player.

To be fair Talat was hard done by

 

[UzmanBeast]

I'm not liking how narrow the win margin is, there has to be a discussion about death overs bowling. Firstly, Babar should have pushed third man back, he gave away easy runs there. Secondly, if Haris didn't concede 16 runs in the same over, he'd have some respectable bowling stats to finish with. Shaheen did well but Pakistan pacers are being mocked by scoop shots in recent times, need to figure out a plan of where to bowl and to pay attention to last-minute changes in stance by batsmen. People like SAF tailenders move early, so the line should change accordingly.

Our pace attack needs a change, and we need 1 more batsman to actually compete. Faheem and Nawaz combined can't give you 20 runs, so there's no point in playing both of them as all-rounders, one will have to play as a bowler.

Rizwan played a blinder of a knock, so he's taken that opening slot. For the second game, I'd go in with this squad:

Babar Azam (c)
Mohammad Rizwan
Haider Ali
Hussain Talat
Danish Aziz
Asif Ali
Faheem Ashraf
Mohammad Nawaz
Usman Qadir
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Mohammad Hasnain

Not much else I can change about the squad at this point in time, because most playing XIs will have the same generic composition.

The only good thing about Shadab in T20I is that he allows us to play another pacer. When he's fit, I'd like to go with him and Usman both in the team, and drop Nawaz though he's performed well.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

seeing our fast bowlers get carted makes me miss the days of Umar gul

To be fair, not easy for pace bowlers when the dew sets in. I'm not going to judge too harshly for that reason.

 

[MenInG]

LAHORE: Reeza Hendricks struck an attacking half-century but that was outdone by Mohammad Rizwan’s maiden Twenty20 International ton as Pakistan edged out the Proteas by three runs in the series opener at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Thursday.

The home wicketkeeper, fresh from recording a maiden Test hundred for the Asian side earlier this week, clubbed seven sixes and six fours in an unbeaten 104 off 64 balls.

His effort helped the hosts amass 169 for six after they lost the toss and were asked to bat first by the visitors.

In reply, Hendricks scored 54 off 42 balls (8 fours) and Janneman Malan managed 44, but it was not enough – with South Africa ending just short on 166 for six.

Mark Boucher’s side, without several of their regular star for the three-match sequence, made a bright start to the game when Bjorn Fortuin (1/25) expertly ran out Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam for a second-ball duck.

Haider Ali (21) was next to go when he fell to an outstanding catch by debutant Jacques Snyman on the deep square-leg fence off Andile Phehlukwayo (2/33).

Although Haider’s effort proved to be the second highest score after Rizwan, the latter then almost single-handedly – he scored nearly two-thirds of their total – carried his side to 169 total with the away bowlers chipping away regularly at the other end.

Tabraiz Shamsi was the stand-out bowler with one for 20 in four overs.

Malan and Hendricks then provided the Proteas a strong start to the chase by putting on 53 for the opening wicket inside seven overs.

But after Usman Qadir (2/21) broke the stand, the hosts then turned the screw.

Snyman (2) and David Miller (6) fell without making any impact, before Heinrich Klaasen (12) upped the tempo again.

However, he picked out Hussain Talat on the fence off Haris Rauf (2/44) handing the initiative back to the home side.

And when Hendricks was sloppily run out, South Africa’s hopes all but evaporated.

Phehlukwayo (14), Dwaine Pretorius (15*) and Fortuin (17*) all tried to hit out late on. There were too many runs to get at that stage and Pakistan held on.

 

[shamaan]

Top spell by qadir changed the match showed very good control.

 

[BChaudhry02]

Sooooooooo...can we please get rid of these two gully trundlers Haris Rauf and Iftikhar Ahmed? Literally, how many chances will they get?

Also, Haris really needs to stop screaming like a maniac after every wicket -- mate, you've been going at 10 an over for the better part of 14 months, screaming and showing your "passion" won't cover it up...

 

[MenInG]

Amaiden T20I century from Mohammad Rizwan helped Pakistan to victory in the first game of the three-match series in Lahore.

Rizwan carried his bat with a brilliant 104* as the hosts posted 169/6 in the first innings, with Haider Ali the next highest scorer for Pakistan on just 21.

The hundred was Rizwan’s first in international T20 cricket and only the second ever by a Pakistan batter – following in the footsteps of Ahmad Shahzad’s 111* against Bangladesh in 2014.

South Africa stuttered in their reply after the openers Janneman Malan and Reeza Hendricks had put on 53 for the first wicket.

Malan fell to a beautiful delivery from Usman Qadir for 44, beaten by the turn and bounce and clean bowled. And Qadir picked up a second with another googly in his next over, rattling the stumps of Jacques Snyman to leave the Proteas on 61/2.

Qadir finished with figures of 2/21 off his four overs as the slow bowlers stemmed the flow of runs in the middle overs. And Pakistan looked like they were cruising to an easy win until a late flurry of runs from Dwaine Pretorius (15 from 6) and Bjorn Fortuin (17 from 9) saw the tourists come up just three runs short.

Babar Azam departed to just the second ball, setting off for a quick single and falling victim to a stunning piece of fielding from Fortuin. The 26-year-old swept in and knocked down the stumps with just one to aim for, with Pakistan’s skipper well short of making his ground.

Haider Ali and Rizwan steered Pakistan through the majority of the powerplay, but a brilliant catch in the deep from Snyman on his T20I debut did for Ali. And Hussain Talat’s lively 15 from 11 balls came to an abrupt end off Tabraiz Shamsi’s second ball, with Heinrich Klaasen whipping off the bails and the TV umpire adjudging that Talat's foot was not grounded.

Shamsi’s tidy four-over spell of 1/20 in the middle overs saw Pakistan struggle to keep up their early momentum. But Rizwan kept the score ticking over, before hitting 23 off his last nine deliveries, going to his hundred off the third ball of the final over with a towering six over deep midwicket.

That late flurry ultimately proved decisive, with South Africa still requiring 19 from their final over. A flicked six from Pretorius gave them a chance, but Faheem Ashraf went through his variations and left Fortuin needing an unlikely 10 to win off the last two deliveries.

A clever scooped four down to the fine-leg boundary took the game to the last ball, but Fortuin failed to find the ropes as Pakistan held on to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

 

[Ami]

I'm not liking how narrow the win margin is, there has to be a discussion about death overs bowling. Firstly, Babar should have pushed third man back, he gave away easy runs there. Secondly, if Haris didn't concede 16 runs in the same over, he'd have some respectable bowling stats to finish with. Shaheen did well but Pakistan pacers are being mocked by scoop shots in recent times, need to figure out a plan of where to bowl and to pay attention to last-minute changes in stance by batsmen. People like SAF tailenders move early, so the line should change accordingly.

Our pace attack needs a change, and we need 1 more batsman to actually compete. Faheem and Nawaz combined can't give you 20 runs, so there's no point in playing both of them as all-rounders, one will have to play as a bowler.

Rizwan played a blinder of a knock, so he's taken that opening slot. For the second game, I'd go in with this squad:

Babar Azam (c)
Mohammad Rizwan
Haider Ali
Hussain Talat
Danish Aziz
Asif Ali
Faheem Ashraf
Mohammad Nawaz
Usman Qadir
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Mohammad Hasnain

Not much else I can change about the squad at this point in time, because most playing XIs will have the same generic composition.

The only good thing about Shadab in T20I is that he allows us to play another pacer. When he's fit, I'd like to go with him and Usman both in the team, and drop Nawaz though he's performed well.

Pakistan habitually play with 3 spin options amongst 6 bowlers, not sure where you'll find that.

Hussain Talat could fill in the 6th bowler spot though but not spin.

 

[Savak]

A quality T20 team should be scoring big when batting first ie minimum 220 plus and defending the score comfortably therefore winning by a margin of 100 plus runs atleast.

If bowling first, they should be able to restrict the opposition to a par score of 150 and chase it within 12-14 overs, if they have a bad day in the field and concede 200 runs, then they should chase it down within 18-19 overs.

Sadly Pakistan takes far too many T20 games to the wire. Our bowlers are very easy to hit for the most part and concede an insane amount of runs

 

[UzmanBeast]

A quality T20 team should be scoring big when batting first ie minimum 220 plus and defending the score comfortably therefore winning by a margin of 100 plus runs atleast.

If bowling first, they should be able to restrict the opposition to a par score of 150 and chase it within 12-14 overs, if they have a bad day in the field and concede 200 runs, then they should chase it down within 18-19 overs.

Sadly Pakistan takes far too many T20 games to the wire. Our bowlers are very easy to hit for the most part and concede an insane amount of runs

Had third man been back, this chase would have never had any chance.

Rauf concedes too many runs, just another Wahab Riaz.

Shaheen bowled well and got unlucky at some stages, but needs to find other ways of containment apart from the yorker.

Spinners did well so can't complain there.

Faheem shouldn't be used in the death.

The three players we employ with the new ball in the powerplay should be Shaheen (1 over), Nawaz (3 overs) and Faheem (2 overs).

 

[Savak]

Faheem Ashraf has to work on his bowling, I fear he is going to be a liability with the ball at some stage

 

[Omer2002]

Due factor was an issue as well

 

[Saj]

42 dot balls in Pakistan's innings - that's way too many.

 

[Mainul]

Congratulation team Pakistan. Marvellous hitting by Rizwan. Is this the first t20 hundred in international match for Pakistan? Rizwan I think is the new star born for Pakistan ,many more such innings to come in future. Result like this is bound to happen when you hello your any top most performar in domestic cricket. Rizwan averages way higher than Sarfraz. 48 in list A in comparison to 32. 43+ in first class in comparison to 39.Rizwan is much much better keeper too .But Pakistan gave Sarfraz loads of matches. They gave numerous matches to mid thirty average players like Asad,Azhar while sidelined Fawad for decades who average the highest in Pakistan cricket history!

 

[Mainul]

when you value (not hello) your any top performer