Pakistan and South Africa meet again in the second T20I of the series. One more victory will assure Pakistan to not lose the series.
Match Timings: April 12, 6 PM IST
Team Preview
Pakistan and South Africa will lock horns in the second T20I at Johannesburg. Pakistan won the thriller in first T20I on the penultimative ball. They chased down their highest ever T20I total and Mohammed Rizwan constructed the chase smartly with a match-winning knock of 74. Pakistan’s dream South Africa tour continues and they have lost just one game out of four games. The series will be almost decided after this game if Pakistan win it again.
South Africa might get their skipper back in this game. In the previous game, they missed out some easy chances. Drop catches hurt them most. Markram scored fine 51 off 32 balls and his form would be important. Klaasen scored a 27-ball half-century. In the last 5 overs, they scored 37 runs and it cost them a match. At one stage, the game was in their control but they didn’t garb chances. Changes are likely to happen and South Africa would look to bounce back in the series. They did the same when they were 1-0 down in Pakistan two months back.
Meanwhile, everything is going perfectly for Pakistan. They won crunch phases on this tour starting with the last-ball finish in the first ODI. In the previous T20I, they almost lost the game but in the final over, they held the nerves. Pakistan backed Fakhar Zaman and Pakistan can give him an opening slot this time. Babar had poor numbers as an opener in the last 3-4 games. Hafeez and Haider Ali are the sheet-anchors in middle-overs. Faheem Ashraf was the standout performer in the last game with 14-balls 30. They have a good depth in batting and Pak would look to better their bowling issues. Nawaz and Hasan Ali were impressive but other bowlers conceded easy runs. Pakistan are favourites to win this match.
Pitch Report
Johannesburg’s track is an ideal batting track. Pacers can take extra help from the pitch. We may expect a score of 180-190 in the first innings. The chasing side will still have an advantage.
Possible XI
South Africa
Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Pite van Biljon, Beuran Hendricks,Heinrich Klaasen (c & wk), Andile Phehlukwayo, George Linde, Bjorn Fortuin, Lutho Sipamla, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kyle Verreynne
Pakistan
Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Haider Ali, Mohammed Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Usman Qadir, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf
Key Players
Pakistan
Mohammed Hafeez
Since Covid-19 – 275 runs from 7 matches
Mohammed Rizwan
Since Covid-19 – 399 runs from 10 matches
South Africa
Tabraiz Shamsi
Last series vs Pak: 6 wickets at an average of 10.16
Heinrich Klaasen
Having a good form, 27-ball 50 in the last T20I
