South Africa vs Pakistan | 1st T20I | Cape Town | Feb 1, 2019 | Pre-Match Discussion Thread

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan missed out on honours in the one-day international series by a margin of 3-2, after South Africa edged them out in the fifth and final game. They will be raring to turn things around in the Twenty20 Internationals.

Overview

South Africa v Pakistan
1st T20I
Newlands, Cape Town
Friday, 1 February, 6.00pm local time, 4.00pm GMT

Pakistan are at the summit of the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings and will want to assert their supremacy in the format after missing out on the ODI series by a whisker. They have an explosive opening combination in Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam, then comes the experience of Mohammad Hafeez and skipper Shoaib Malik in the middle order.

If Pakistan's batting order is strong, their bowling unit is steel. Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Afridi form a formidable pace attack, while Shadab Khan fills the spin-bowling position. Hafeez, with 54 wickets in 67 innings, is Pakistan's leading wicket-taker among active cricketers and brings in a utilitarian off-spin option.

Pakistan, a juggernaut in the shortest format of the game, have triumphed in 11 T20I series on the trot. Their last defeat in a bilateral T20I series came against New Zealand back in January 2016. The visitors, however, will miss their regular skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who is serving a four-match ban after breaching ICC's anti-racism code.

South Africa, meanwhile, will want to bring the momentum from the ODI series into the T20Is. Opener Quinton de Kock, middle-order batsman Rassie van der Dussen and skipper Faf du Plessis were on song in the ODIs.

Andile Phehlukwayo, with eight wickets in five games, was the highest wicket-taker of the series. He will lead the pace attack – comprising Junior Dala, Chris Morris and uncapped Lutho Sipamla – in the absence of the rested Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn.

South Africa will offer opportunities to their fringe players and newcomers, after opting to rest the regulars ahead of a busy summer schedule: they host Sri Lanka for a full tour before flying to England and Wales for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Key players

Faf du Plessis (South Africa): The Proteas skipper adds much needed experience to a relatively inexperienced squad. Having scored 155 at an average of 77.50 in the ODI series, he will be South Africa's batting mainstay.

Babar Azam (Pakistan): Ranked No.1 on the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Batting Rankings, Azam is Pakistan's batting heavyweight in the shortest format of the game. He had a successful run in the ODIs, compiling 195 runs at an average of 48.75.

Conditions

While the conditions might be cloudy earlier in the day, the skies will be clear at the time of the toss. The surface in Cape Town is skiddy and not easy to bat on, which showed in the final ODI. Pakistan could make just 240 in the first innings and South Africa took 40 overs to chase it down.

Squads

Pakistan: Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali, Hussain Talat, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik (c), Usman Khan, Mohammad Rizwan

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Gihahn Cloete, Junior Dala, Quinton de Kock, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Chris Morris, Willem Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Lutho Sipamla

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/999873

 

[Gullycricket]

True test of our No 1 ranking

 

[a_tahir]

True test of our No 1 ranking

How's it a true test if you're no.1 and playing a no.5 team??
True test would have been against ind or eng not SA.

 

[Ozymandiasza]

Just a correction: You mixed the squads up.

 

[Abdullah719]

Just a correction: You mixed the squads up.

Fixed, thanks. ICC really should hire someone to proofread their articles...

 

[Rana]

The streak is on the line!

 

[Rana]

Pakistan should walk out into the ground with Undertaker's Druid theme to signify the importance of 13-0.

 

[KingKhanWC]

South Africa will struggle to make a contest out of this.

 

[Smudger]

Pakistan will miss Sarfaraz who was the mastermind behind Pakistan's no 1 ranking

 

[Arsalan Pro]

Pakistan should win this series without much trouble.

Team:

Fakhar Zaman
Babar Azam
Asif Ali
Mohammad Hafeez
Shoaib Malik(C)
Mohammad Rizwan(Wk)
Imad Wasim
Hasan Ali
Shadab Khan
Mohammad Amir
Shaheen Afridi

Faheem Ashraf can play instead of Shaheen Afridi, if he needs rest.

 

[Gullycricket]

How's it a true test if you're no.1 and playing a no.5 team??
True test would have been against ind or eng not SA.

You will see

 

[Cric1234]

South Africa will struggle to make a contest out of this.

At home they will be better if the spinners aren't successful for Pakistan SA will be winning this series.

 

[abhay]

How's it a true test if you're no.1 and playing a no.5 team??
True test would have been against ind or eng not SA.

100 percent agree with you. There should be no contest between a No-1 and No-5 team.
I am sure Pakistan would roll over RSA.

 

[ARK Rafay]

A major factor is Sarfraz is not our Captain. And we never lost a series in T20 under him

 

[a_tahir]

You will see

Looking at the bookies, you might actually be correct.
The winning streak according to them is seriously on the line.
Sa are favourites to win the series 2-1

 

[a_tahir]

100 percent agree with you. There should be no contest between a No-1 and No-5 team.
I am sure Pakistan would roll over RSA.

Dunno why u needed to talk in that sarcastic tone

 

[Abdullah]

Imam and shinwari and amir out. Faheem Hasan and Asif in. Gun team.
We should be looking to desperately keep the streak going here. It's a proud record given T20 is meant to be an even playing field

 

[abhay]

Dunno why u needed to talk in that sarcastic tone

It seems sarcastic to you but your observation regarding ranking is on the mark. Look how a higher ranking team like India thrashing first Australia and then New Zealand in their own backyard justifies their rankings.

So it's very much expected that the highest ranking team in T20 would follow the suit.

 

[MenInG]

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa paid a surprise visit to the Pakistan cricket team’s dressing room while on a private tour to South Africa.

The chief of army staff, who is an avid fan of cricket, demonstrated his knowledge of the game during interaction with players and team management.

The army chief surprised the national cricketers when he visited the team’s dressing room. The players were even more pleasantly taken aback when they found out the general knew quite a lot about cricket and past cricketers.

When he met the team’s assistant manager and former cricketer Mansoor Rana, General Bajwa mentioned Mansoor's late father and famous umpire Shakoor Rana. The army chief told him that he also knew about his uncle Sultan Rana who was a good cricketer and an exceptionally good fielder.

According to the team manager, General Bajwa informed the Pakistan team that he is an avid fan of the game and used to play cricket as well.

https://nation.com.pk/01-Feb-2019/a...-pakistan-teams-dressing-room-in-south-africa

 

[a_tahir]

It seems sarcastic to you but your observation regarding ranking is on the mark. Look how a higher ranking team like India thrashing first Australia and then New Zealand in their own backyard justifies their rankings.

So it's very much expected that the highest ranking team in T20 would follow the suit.

We beat Aus in zim and the uae. We beat Nz IN nz when they were no.1. We then overtook them to be no.1 ourselves.

 

[mak36]

Should rest SSA.

 

[abhay]

We beat Aus in zim and the uae. We beat Nz IN nz when they were no.1. We then overtook them to be no.1 ourselves.

that's what I am saying they are deservedly no-1 and this match should prove that there is no match between top rank and fifth rank team.

I am in complete agreement with you.

 

[Invincible Gujjar]

I m expecting an one sided contest but even the best team can have an off day