Pakistan and South Africa will face each other in the second T20I of the series. The hosts would look for another series win at home.
Match Timings: Feb 13, 6:30 PM IST
Team Preview
Pakistan continued its T20I winning streak with a convincing win in the first T20I. The hosts are now unbeaten at home from the last seven matches in the shorter format of cricket. In the last one year, they lost to New Zealand and held England for a 1-1 draw in the T20 series. Mohammed Rizwan scored a fighting unbeaten century to help Pakistan to post 169 from 69/3 in the 10th over. Apart from Rizwan, other batsmen struggled. Chasing a competitive target, South Africa lost the rhythm early in the first ten. Both openers provided 53 runs in 7 overs, but in middle-overs, tight spells cost Proteas. After Reeza Hendricks’ wicket, South Africa fought till the end but fell short of just 3 runs.
The middle-order couldn’t offer enough support in the chase, but South Africa looked solid in the last match. They can bounce back if they look for some improvements. Janneman Malan scored 44 off just 29 balls, and Hendricks scored gritty 54. Proteas conceded easy boundaries in death-overs. Any change is unlikely to happen from the South African side. Jacques Snyman received the T20I cap in the last game, but he had a dull outing with the bat. Proteas’ T20 form is a worrying sign as recently they lost to England at home, and now they are on the verge of losing another T20 series.
Meanwhile, Pakistan are a dangerous side at home, and they are undefeated in the last seven matches. Hosts recalled Hasan Ali and Asif Ali in their main squad, but both missed out the place in the playing XI. Babar opened with Rizwan and got out on just one with a direct-throw. The middle-order lacked due to the unavailability of veteran Mohammed Hafeez. Babar can take Asif Ali to propel the middle-order. The major changes in the squad are unexpected. Hussain Talat might be dropped after back-to-back failures, and Khushdil Shah may find his name on the bench if Pakistan looks for changes.
Haris Rauf had an injury issue when the ball hit his shoulder badly. He may rest to avoid any big injury, and either Hasan Ali or Hasnain can get his name on the team-sheet. Pakistan will play two back-to-back matches this weekend so Babar can handover the T20I cap to any uncapped player. Pakistan are favourites one more time, but South Africa had some good moments from the previous match. They came close to victory, so Klassen can back his side to script a comeback in this match.
Pitch Report
Lahore’s surface is a decent T20 track. It offers reasonable assistance to batsmen and bowlers. Spinners can have good help in middle-overs as the match will be played on the used surface. The chasing side will still have an advantage.
Possible XI
Pakistan
Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Haider Ali, Hussain Talat/Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Qadir, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf/Hasan Ali/Mohammad Hasnain
South Africa
Janneman Malan, Reeza Hendricks, Jacques Snyman, Heinrich Klaasen (c & wk), David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Bjorn Fortuin, Junior Dala, Lutho Sipamla, Tabraiz Shamsi
Key Players
Pakistan
In 2020 – M: 7, Runs: 210, Avg: 42
Mohammed Rizwan
In 2020-21 – M: 9, Runs: 232, Avg: 77.33
South Africa
Heinrich Klaasen
In 2020-21 – M: 5, Runs: 127, Avg: 28.75
Tabraiz Shamsi
Last one year – M: 10, Wickets: 10, SR: 22.80
