South Africa 194 for 9 (Hendricks 60, Linde 36, Nawaz 3-26) beat Pakistan 139 (Ayub 37, Nawaz 36, Bosch 4-14, Linde 3-31
Against a second-string South African side, Pakistan produced a second-rate performance, with the faultless visitors crushing the hosts by 55 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series. South Africa's top three, shepherded by a half-century from Reeza Hendricks, saw South Africa fly into an advantage they never relinquished, rallying at the death after getting stuck midway to post 194.
Pakistan's response was found wanting in all phases of the game as South Africa's seamers kept Pakistan on a leash, with Corbin Bosch and spinner George Linde picking up clumps of wickets along the way. Pakistan were derailed both by a mounting asking rate and the fall of wickets, and their defeat was de facto confirmed long before the final wicket fell in front of an emptied-out Pindi stadium.
QdK, TdZ and Reeza
South Africa's top three of Hendricks, Quinton de Kock and Tony de Zorzi was stellar but is no one's first choice - not even South Africa's. But on a batting-friendly surface with small boundaries, the openers, Hendricks and de Kock, set the tone in the second over with Hendricks leaning across to wallop Naseem Shah over square leg for six. It set off carnage in the powerplay with de Kock joining in as the pair found five boundaries in the next ten deliveries.
De Kock sliced one against Saim Ayub to give Pakistan a breakthrough, but not a breather, as de Zorzi ensured. The last two overs with the fielding restrictions saw South Africa plunder a boundary every other delivery, and it continued just beyond, too, with a majestic six over cover from de Zorzi fetching the visitors another 15 runs in the seventh. By the end of the seventh over, they had put up 89; it took Pakistan six more overs, for the loss of six more wickets, to get to that mark.
Corbin Bosch torments Pakistan once more
At the tail-end of last year, Bosch made his Test debut and was the bane of Pakistan's existence all week, picking up wickets and scoring runs as South Africa trumped Pakistan in a thriller. Much water has flown in the relationship between Pakistan and Bosch since. He was signed up in the PSL, a deal he abandoned to take one up in the IPL. The PSL responded by banning him from the league for a year.
Six months on, Bosch returned to Pakistan and in Rawalpindi, made sure he laughed last. With Pakistan desperate to keep up with a spiralling asking rate, they had no choice but to attack the fast bowler as he came on in the final over of the powerplay, with the hosts barely trickling along at just over a run a ball. Babar Azam, facing his second delivery in his first T20I since December 2024, hacked wildly at a hard length delivery, but the pace meant he only caught the splice of the blade. The ball looped up harmlessly to cover, sending the returning fan favourite back into the dug out for a second-ball duck.
A bad day for Pakistan's high-profile stars
There was no visible evidence upon which Babar had been recalled, with his duck capping off a miserable day on which he also dropped a catch late on during South Africa's charge at the death. He was not, however, the only failure on a day Pakistan littered the board with them.
Captain Salman Agha has been under fire for his personal performances in the format. Coming in to bat at four at the end of the powerplay, he scratched around at the start - as he often does, the required rate climbing every delivery. After two runs off his first six, Bosch darted in a 144kph ball angling back towards the Pakistan captain, rocketing into his front thigh. Agha took a review along with him, there was no reprieve to be found. It finished off a day where he also bowled one over - the one just as the powerplay ended, and gave away 15 wicketless runs.
Left-arm finger spinners shine all round
Much separated Pakistan and South Africa on the day, but the only thing to unite them was the success each nation's left-arm spinner enjoyed with bat and ball.
Linde and Mohammad Nawaz were the most effective men on either side on the day. Linde picked up South Africa's flagging innings in the final five overs by taking apart Shaheen Shah Afridi in the 16th over, smashing four fours off him in a 22-ball 36 run counterattack.
Nawaz, meanwhile, had done the most to ensure South Africa's middle-overs flagging, breaking the Hendricks-de Zorzi stand in the eighth over, and then deceiving the dangerous Dewald Brevis in his following over. He sealed his bowling spell with the wicket of South Africa's stand-in captain - Donovan Ferreira - off his final ball to finish with figures of 3-26.
The two also swam in each other's slipstream during the chase. Linde came back from Saim Ayub taking him for runs in in his first two overs, tossing a surprise ball out wide from around the wicket. It left Ayub reaching before tamely lofting it to cover, realistically killing off a chase just as the opener came to life. It was the first of three wickets as the offspinner also accounted for Usman Khan and Faheem Ashraf.
While the batters crumbled around him, Nawaz timed it beautifully. The game had long gone by then, but he found a level of ball-striking none of his peers were able to reach, smashing four fours and two sixes. When he chipped his 20th ball to long-on to conclude his innings and the game, he matched Linde's 36 exactly. It was one similarity between a Pakistani and a South African on a day when the visiting collective pulled well clear of the hosts early.
