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Pakistan (149/7) defeat South Africa (144) by 3 wickets in the 4th T20I & win series by a 3-1 margin

Pak have a powerful top order. But nothing after no. 3. Hafeez's dip in form is concerning

Hasan ali and Haris Rauf are inconsistent. Bowling is more reliant on faheem than I thought
 
Pak have a powerful top order. But nothing after no. 3. Hafeez's dip in form is concerning

Hasan ali and Haris Rauf are inconsistent. Bowling is more reliant on faheem than I thought

I'll still bank on Hafeez, but for me less time being a diva and more time concentrating on the job at hand. This is why i was saying that don't add Hafeez to ODIs.
 
Are u sure? It was difficult pitch after 10 overs as South africa found out in first innings. Old ball wasnt coming on the bat.He's won u the game show some respect. We were in that position because of hafeez haider asif faheem.

No matter how difficult the pitch is, for a seasoned player like Nawaz, there is absolutely no excuse for the number of times he completely missed the ball. His wild swings weren't even close to connection! It was an extremely nervy innings.
 
The Proteas’ summer drew to a disappointing end on Friday after they fell to a three-wicket defeat to Pakistan in the final KFC T20 International and with it lost the series 3-1 at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Faheem Ashraf and Fakhar Zaman lead the way for the tourists, the former claiming three wickets and the latter recording a blistering half-century, before a slight wobble in between victory being sealed.

After winning the toss and asking South Africa to bat, the home side again made a promising start by reaching 109 for two thanks to Rassie van der Dussen’s dashing 52 (36 balls, 5 fours, 2 sixes). However, they then collapsed to 144 all out in 19.3 overs with Faheem grabbing three for 17.

Fakhar was then outstanding in the reply and plundered 60 off 34 balls (5 fours, 4 sixes) to help his side reach 92 for one at one stage. The home side did fight back through Sisanda Magala (2/33), Tabraiz Shamsi (1/21) and Andile Phehlukwayo (1/11) but Mohammad Nawaz’s unbeaten 25 sealed victory with a delivery to spare.

That concluded another disappointing showing by the South Africans as Pakistan completed the double – they also won the ODI leg of the tour.

They were on top for most of this game too as Aiden Markram fell early for 11. But Janneman Malan (33) and Van der Dussen put on 57 for the second wicket, before Heinrich Klaasen (9) helped take the score to 109 in the 13th over.

But they imploded badly from there, losing eight for 35 to be dismissed with three balls of the innings to spare.

In addition Faheem, Hasan Ali collected three for 40.

The reply was ominous from the visitors when Fakhar and Babar Azam (24) got going following the rare early loss of Mohammad Rizwan for a duck, Bjorn Fortuin (1/26) striking in his first match of the series.

Pakistan were closing in on 100 in the 10th over when Lizaad Williams (2/39) finally broke the stand, sparking a collapse that saw five wickets fall for 23.

That opened the door slightly for the home side and they kept the pressure on bravely to take it to the last over, before a Nawaz six sealed victory for his side.
 
A series that ebbed and flowed still had twists till the final over as Pakistan crossed the finish line, winning the final T20I by three wickets over South Africa, with just a ball to spare.

Pakistan clinched the series 3-1 in a last-over thriller thanks to an early flourish from Fakhar Zaman (60) and finishing touches from Mohammad Nawaz (25*) after their bowlers had reduced South Africa to 144.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and opted to field. South Africa lost the in-form Aiden Markram early in the innings who had scored three consecutive fifties in the series previously. Nawaz trapped Markram (11) leg-before as the hawkeye confirmed the ball clipped the top of leg-stump despite Nawaz going for plenty at the start of the over.

Subsequently, Janneman Malan was joined by Rassie van der Dussen in the middle. The duo added 57 runs for the second wicket which was later broken by Faheem Ashraf. Malan (33) was enticed by Ashraf to go for an expansive cover drive but was caught by Zaman at extra cover.

Van der Dussen was stranded alone as he lost partners at regular intervals. Skipper Heinrich Klaasen (9) was sent back early in the 13th over when smashed the ball hard which landed straight into the hands of Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Van der Dussen scored a clinical half-century, 52 runs off 36 balls but soon perished to Haris Rauf as he dragged the ball across to deep mid-wicket where he was caught.

Ashraf ended his bowling spell on a high as he nicked the wicket of George Linde for 3. Ashraf’s bowling figures of 3/17 was an exhibition of controlled medium pace bowling at a ground privy of bowlers being expensive.

The South Africa lower middle order imploded as Pakistan bowlers made a comeback in the game as they didn’t allow any of the batters to reach double-digit scores. The hosts were eventually bundled out for 144 in 19.3 overs.

In their chase, Pakistan got off to a shaky start. Mohammad Rizwan was out for a duck getting stumped down the leg side in the first over.

A 91-run stand between Babar Azam (24) and Fakhar Zaman brought the visitors in the driver's seat with Zaman scoring the majority of the runs.

Their solid stand came to an end when Lizaad Williams was brought into the attack. He snared the wickets of the two set batsmen in the same over.

The run chase which seemed elementary still had some twists ahead. Pakistan stuttered as a collapse ensued with the middle order failing to kick off. They went from 92/1 to 115/6 with a boundary draught.

With the run rate still at achievable limits, Nawaz rose to the occasion to take Pakistan home with a six off the second-last ball. Back-to-back no-balls from Magala in the 19th over eased the pressure as Nawaz dispatched the free hit for a six, bringing down the equation to run a ball for the final over.

Pakistan finished the tour with both ODI and T20I trophy in their bag.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan's performances against South Africa recently:<br><br>Test Series in Pakistan - WON<br>T20I Series in Pakistan - WON<br>ODI Series in South Africa - WON<br>T20I Series in South Africa - WON<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1383091119815331846?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Previously Pakistan had only beaten South Africa 3 times in any series.<br><br>Now, in the space of 3 months, they have beaten them in 4 series<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1383109931457507341?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Its quite obvious to everyone here...we just dont have the batters for middle order whether its odis or t20s...we've tried all sorts but none has worked.

Its come to a point where we'll even ask someone as mediocre as Sharjeel to plug the middle order.

These are the recent great hypes/hopes that have floundered...

1. Iftikhar
2. Khushdil
3. Talat
4. Asif
5. Haider
6. Sarfaraz
7. Shadab
8. Nawaz (he did better today lower down the order)

Surely, THERE IS NO ONE, out there.

May be Imad left to try at no 6?

Or Saud for a spot some where, may be odis only?

Anyone else?

Hey ...why NOT Sharjeel...because things are desperate now!!!
 
A win is a win but Pak specialise in making things unnecessarily difficult

92/1 to 129/7!

What should have been an easy victory ended up being a nervy one
 
haidar ali still deserves chances imo he clearly has some talent timing the ball but i think he should come at number 4. hafeez and Imad will come good in india as for bowling if we convince amir to come back i think we have a solid side that can win the world cup esp in sub continent conditions abdul qadir will be a hand full on a slow chennai pitch
 
Nice gesture by Pakistan squad:

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/wvz30p" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
He needs to play and domestics is perfect opportunity for him. The problem with him is he’s very raw and needs as much as cricket as possible specially first class cricket. In fact getting him out of t20 will help his game. I don’t mind having someone like sharjeel in his position or someone who can hit.

Sharjeel and Azam are not solutions to that place either, both of them also lack discipline and cricketing intelligence to know when to take things easy and when to actually go for hits.

Given their fitness levels, we'd start choking in the middle overs as well, so it makes no sense to replace Haider with one of those players.

Sohaib Maqsood and Shoaib Malik are realistically our only two remaining options.
 
mental strength, they don't even have common sense bro.

Agreed. Find ways to choke from winning positions. I think 15-year olds playing tape-ball cricket would have enough common sense to know how to bat in that situation.
 
This. I like him at three in T20s.

Though, a more aggressive opener (other than Fakhar) should replace Rizwan as opener.

I think Rizwan and Babar are fine for now, we can always carry an extra opener to the world cup in case our squad isn't balanced enough.

Malik and Maqsood should be part of the middle order as Haider and Asif make way.

Imad replaces Nawaz for me, Nawaz might be a better wicket-taking option but Imad is far better with the bat and also more economical.
 
Malik ? Honestly, expected better from an intelligent poster like you. Rest I agree with.

Apart from Malik, what other options do we have. You can look through domestic only to find how barren the cupboard actually is for middle order batsmen.

If we exclude players who have already been tried in T20Is in the last few series, the only available options we have are:

1. Sohaib Maqsood
2. Azam Khan
3. Danish Aziz
4. Shoaib Malik
5. Rohail Nazir
6. Sarfaraz Ahmed

Those are essentially all of our options. None of them have been tried in the format for the last few series, so in my mind, it's practically a free selection at this point. Any one of them could be selected for a variety of roles.

For example, you can divide that list into keeper batsmen which entails Sarfaraz and Rohail, though both will serve as accumulators as opposed to scoring at a higher run rate.

Then you have two all-rounders in Malik and Danish, Malik obviously being more experienced but Danish being younger and also a left-hander.

Then lastly, you have Maqsood and Azam, probably the guys who come in and have the expectation to bash from ball one.

If you're still following along, you'd see that I already called for the selection of Imad Wasim down at 7 instead of Mohammad Nawaz.

If we keep some major components of the squad that played yesterday, we get a rough outline which looks like:

Babar Azam (c)
Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
Fakhar Zaman
Mohammad Hafeez
-
-
Imad Wasim
Faheem Ashraf/Spinner like Usman Qadir, Zahid Mahmood, Shadab Khan
Hasan Ali
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Haris Rauf

From our performance this series, it's quite evident that we need one guy who can take the singles and doubles and hit boundaries, and one guy who can go after the bowling lineup. The lack of maturity in our middle order is one sign that it lacks experience, so two candidates are possible to fix that, who are Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik. Now, consider their strengths. Both are good players of spin, but Sarfaraz is a keeper which we don't need. Malik can give you 4 overs on a good day, and if there are left-handers on strike, I'd like to use his bowling. Danish Aziz would also be an option, but given that I'm keen on playing Imad, I don't need another left-arm finger spinner.

After Malik, I'd want either Maqsood or Azam, though the former has had a better run in both the PSL and domestic season. He'd be my choice for that slot, followed by Imad Wasim down at seven.

Now, if the need arises to play an additional spinner, Faheem Ashraf will be sidelined for that spinner, or alternatively, one of Hasan/Haris could be dropped as well. Dropping Faheem won't harm us much given that Hasan Ali still plays, because he can hit us a few boundaries if needed.

Hopefully that explains why I want Malik in the middle order.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan have been impressive throughout the ODI an T20 series, deserved winners.. lots to take away for the proteas.. a few question marks yes but definitely a few exclamation marks as well.. good fight shown till the end.. congrats Pakistan &#55357;&#56613;</p>— JP Duminy (@jpduminy21) <a href="https://twitter.com/jpduminy21/status/1383108386473017350?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Boucher takes 'massive responsibility' for SA's series loss against Pakistan

Under Boucher's tenure, the Proteas have lost eight of their 11 series but the head coach believes his side is on the right track and the results will start going their way.

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher has taken full responsibility for his side's loss in the ODI and T20I series against Pakistan.

Under Boucher's tenure, the Proteas have lost eight of their 11 series but the head coach believes his side is on the right track and the results will start going their way.

Pakistan defeated hosts South Africa 2-1 in the ODI series while in the T20I format, Babar Azam-led side won the series 3-1.

"I take a massive amount of responsibility and I should. I don't shy away from it. I am hurt, I am extremely hurt at the moment, as is the rest of the management and coaching staff. We put a lot of hard work and effort into this. But there's no panic from me yet because I do understand that we have been given some trying circumstances over the last period of time and we will continue to put in hard work,"

South Africa was without its core group of players for T20I series against Pakistan as they received NoCs to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"I am not going to make excuses. We've still got to try and win with whichever players we put on the park but it has been tough. There have been a lot of positives. With the opportunities that have been given, a couple of guys have come through with flying colours," he said. "It's given us a better view of what our depth is like, so I've got a fair idea of a larger squad we can look at," said Boucher.

"We have to get our squad back together, get all of our players fit and available to play. We always earmarked the West Indian trip as being when our full squad needs to be together. Going forward now we need to start looking at the World Cups and start building on a formula we want to play. It's a matter of getting all the guys together and getting them used to each other and hopefully used to winning a couple of games together," he added.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/boucher-takes-massive-responsibility-for-sa-s-series-loss-against-pak-101618736406916.html
 
South Africa fast bowler Sisanda Magala has been handed an official reprimand for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the fourth T20I against Pakistan in Centurion on Friday.

Magala was found to have breached Article 2.2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during an International Match.”

In addition to this, one demerit point has been added to the disciplinary record of Magala, for whom it was the first offence in a 24-month period.

The incident occurred in the 19th over of Pakistan’s innings when Magala hit the stumps with his hand, dislodging the bails at the bowler’s end after being hit for a six.

Magala admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees and ratified by the ICC Cricket Operations department as per the COVID-19 interim playing regulations. There was no need for a formal hearing.

On-field umpires Adrian Holdstock and Shaun George, third umpire Allahudien Palekar and fourth official Bongani Jele levelled the charge.

Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.
 
Apart from Malik, what other options do we have. You can look through domestic only to find how barren the cupboard actually is for middle order batsmen.

If we exclude players who have already been tried in T20Is in the last few series, the only available options we have are:

1. Sohaib Maqsood
2. Azam Khan
3. Danish Aziz
4. Shoaib Malik
5. Rohail Nazir
6. Sarfaraz Ahmed

Those are essentially all of our options. None of them have been tried in the format for the last few series, so in my mind, it's practically a free selection at this point. Any one of them could be selected for a variety of roles.

For example, you can divide that list into keeper batsmen which entails Sarfaraz and Rohail, though both will serve as accumulators as opposed to scoring at a higher run rate.

Then you have two all-rounders in Malik and Danish, Malik obviously being more experienced but Danish being younger and also a left-hander.

Then lastly, you have Maqsood and Azam, probably the guys who come in and have the expectation to bash from ball one.

If you're still following along, you'd see that I already called for the selection of Imad Wasim down at 7 instead of Mohammad Nawaz.

If we keep some major components of the squad that played yesterday, we get a rough outline which looks like:

Babar Azam (c)
Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
Fakhar Zaman
Mohammad Hafeez
-
-
Imad Wasim
Faheem Ashraf/Spinner like Usman Qadir, Zahid Mahmood, Shadab Khan
Hasan Ali
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Haris Rauf

From our performance this series, it's quite evident that we need one guy who can take the singles and doubles and hit boundaries, and one guy who can go after the bowling lineup. The lack of maturity in our middle order is one sign that it lacks experience, so two candidates are possible to fix that, who are Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik. Now, consider their strengths. Both are good players of spin, but Sarfaraz is a keeper which we don't need. Malik can give you 4 overs on a good day, and if there are left-handers on strike, I'd like to use his bowling. Danish Aziz would also be an option, but given that I'm keen on playing Imad, I don't need another left-arm finger spinner.

After Malik, I'd want either Maqsood or Azam, though the former has had a better run in both the PSL and domestic season. He'd be my choice for that slot, followed by Imad Wasim down at seven.

Now, if the need arises to play an additional spinner, Faheem Ashraf will be sidelined for that spinner, or alternatively, one of Hasan/Haris could be dropped as well. Dropping Faheem won't harm us much given that Hasan Ali still plays, because he can hit us a few boundaries if needed.

Hopefully that explains why I want Malik in the middle order.

Malik was dropped after 2019 WC after failing yet again in a major tournament. Since then I haven't seen a single innings of his which merits a comeback. He even failed in Srilankan league !

Moreover, its a myth that Malik is a good player of spin, he used to be good against spin but he has heavily regressed in last 5 years. He has struggled every time vs Kuldeep-Chahal, he played an embarrassing innings in NZ where Williamson of all people strangled him with his part time off spin and went for less than 5 in 10 overs on a flat pancake. There is another ODI innings in Australia where he struggled vs Zampa in a run chase situation. And its not surprising at all considering he was never good at sweeping and has lost the ability to hit spinners straight using his feet (used to be his strength).

If you want someone that can rotate strike and hit out when needed in middle order then Rizwan is a far better option than Sarfaraz and Malik at 5 in T20s. He is in form, can hit against spin and will leave a space at opening slot where we have many candidates to pick from (Sharjeel, Haider, Nasir, Zeeshan etc).

Maqsood and Imad can then come in at 6 and 7. Though I will use Rizwan as a floater in T20s who can be sent in on a spicy wicket or if there is a collapse, like the one in last T20I.
 
Surprising that it took a full strength pak team to defeat a severely depleted D side of SA.
You would expect even a minnow to beat this nameless SA side.
 
Malik was dropped after 2019 WC after failing yet again in a major tournament. Since then I haven't seen a single innings of his which merits a comeback. He even failed in Srilankan league !

Moreover, its a myth that Malik is a good player of spin, he used to be good against spin but he has heavily regressed in last 5 years. He has struggled every time vs Kuldeep-Chahal, he played an embarrassing innings in NZ where Williamson of all people strangled him with his part time off spin and went for less than 5 in 10 overs on a flat pancake. There is another ODI innings in Australia where he struggled vs Zampa in a run chase situation. And its not surprising at all considering he was never good at sweeping and has lost the ability to hit spinners straight using his feet (used to be his strength).

If you want someone that can rotate strike and hit out when needed in middle order then Rizwan is a far better option than Sarfaraz and Malik at 5 in T20s. He is in form, can hit against spin and will leave a space at opening slot where we have many candidates to pick from (Sharjeel, Haider, Nasir, Zeeshan etc).

Maqsood and Imad can then come in at 6 and 7. Though I will use Rizwan as a floater in T20s who can be sent in on a spicy wicket or if there is a collapse, like the one in last T20I.

The problem with Rizwan in the middle order is that he takes time to get going. Given that we already have Hafeez in the middle order, I don't think we can afford to have Rizwan as both will take about an over or two to get settled.

As for Sarfaraz, he does play spin well and he is experienced, but bringing Sarfaraz could potentially add unnecessary pressure on Rizwan, which is something to avoid. If Sarfaraz plays, he plays as a batsman in my view.

Maqsood, I agree with his selection and also with Imad, both need to be brought into the team.

On the topic of Malik, I've watched him play for quite a few years, and he might not look elegant when he plays but he gets the job done.

Our middle order right now isn't getting the job done, and one thing to consider is that Malik's international career was greatly affected by him being tossed and turned from one position to another. He was never given a role with absolute clarity, and though that's in the past now, I think that he should still remain an option in consideration. Personally, I'd take him to the World Cup, maybe not play him straight away but keep him there in case our middle order keeps failing, because in a tournament like that, you don't have second chances with choosing a team.

That's my argument. Take Malik to the WC even if it means you don't play him. Having him there will mean that in case Pakistan needs him (I'm hearing news that Pakistan will either play most of their games at the Eden Gardens or in Delhi), he will be there.

Those innings you mentioned are true, but one thing to consider is that Malik still stands a better chance of playing the likes of Chahal, Kuldeep, Shamsi, etc. than the likes of Haider, who can't even read spin from the hand. Even Hafeez failed against Shamsi this time around.

So, it depends. You can look at it from different viewpoints, but my advice to the Pakistan Team would be to bring him into the squad. Younger players like Haider Ali being around the likes of Malik might even help their own development.
 
Malik was dropped after 2019 WC after failing yet again in a major tournament. Since then I haven't seen a single innings of his which merits a comeback. He even failed in Srilankan league !

Moreover, its a myth that Malik is a good player of spin, he used to be good against spin but he has heavily regressed in last 5 years. He has struggled every time vs Kuldeep-Chahal, he played an embarrassing innings in NZ where Williamson of all people strangled him with his part time off spin and went for less than 5 in 10 overs on a flat pancake. There is another ODI innings in Australia where he struggled vs Zampa in a run chase situation. And its not surprising at all considering he was never good at sweeping and has lost the ability to hit spinners straight using his feet (used to be his strength).

If you want someone that can rotate strike and hit out when needed in middle order then Rizwan is a far better option than Sarfaraz and Malik at 5 in T20s. He is in form, can hit against spin and will leave a space at opening slot where we have many candidates to pick from (Sharjeel, Haider, Nasir, Zeeshan etc).

Maqsood and Imad can then come in at 6 and 7. Though I will use Rizwan as a floater in T20s who can be sent in on a spicy wicket or if there is a collapse, like the one in last T20I.

Completely aligned!

Total myth that Malik plays spin well. He was a baggage in 2019 WC and kept Haris Sohail out for the first few which turned out to be a blunder. Can’t repeat the same mistake.
Anyway, I agree Rizwan could move down given he’s the best player of spin in Pakistan currently. Here’s my 11 T20 WC:

Sharjeel
Babar
Fakhar
Hafeez
Rizwan
S.Maqsood
Imad/Faheem
Nawaz
Hassan A
Zahid Mahmood/Haris Rauf
SSA

Zahid Mahmood > Usman Qadir any day. Zahid did well in First class which shows he has control. He also has the superior T20 record vs Usman.
Nawaz the bowler > Faheem/Imad and we need spinners in the WC. Nawaz will be very very effective in sub continent wickets.
S.Maqsood is unlucky to not get a call-up given his recent domestic white ball cricket performance. Can play sensibly and hit long.
 
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