World Cup Match 29 Pakistan vs South Africa Review; Pakistan bowlers choke South Africa to win a thriller

World Cup Match 29 Pakistan vs South Africa Review; Pakistan bowlers choke South Africa to win a thriller: In a must win game, Pakistan really rose up to the challenge. And South Africa really need to look into their ability to chase a total no matter how big or how small it is, they are confirming their tag of chokers.

Pakistan batted first after South Africa put them in damp conditions due to rain, which curtailed the game by 3 overs. Pakistan’s new opening pair of Sarfraz Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad gave a decent start to them before Shehzad fell for 18. But Sarfraz and Younis Khan added 62 runs for the 2nd wicket and steadied the Pakistani batting. But South African bowlers, especially Steyn kept the pressure on and Pakistan kept loosing wickets. After Sarfraz departed for 49, Misbah (56) tried to take Pakistan to a respectable total. But apart from Afridi who scored 22 off 15 balls, no one else actually contributed in a significant way. Pakistan were bowled out for 222in 47 overs. Kyle Abbott and Morne Morkel picked up 2 wickets each and Steyn picked 3.

South Africa got a revised total of 233 to chase in 47 overs thanks to the mega complicated Duckworth Lewis rain method. Mohd. Irfan got rid of De Kock on the second ball of the innings. Hashim Amla (38) and Du Plessis (27) added 67 runs to bring South Africa back in the game. But after they both were dismissed, South Africa started to collapse with just AB de Villiers playing a lone hand. Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali and Mohd Irfan picked up 3 wickets each as Misbha went for the wickets and was on the offensive all the time in favourable conditions for fast bowling.

De Villiers was looking for some support, someone who could block at the other end while he hit South  Africa to victory, but apart JP Duminy and Dale Steyn, he got no support from who so ever. In the end Sohail Khan dismissed De Villiers for 77 with only 30 runs to get and that ended the Proteas’ chances of an unlikely victory.  Pakistan have now almost qualified for the quarterfinals.

Sarfraz Ahmed was named the Man of the match for his 49 and his 6 catches behind the stumps.

Brief Scores:
Pakistan 222 (Misbah-ul-Haq 56, S Ahmed 49; D Steyn 3/30) defeated South Africa 202 (AB de Villiers 77, H Amla 38; R Ali 3/40) by 29 runs by D/L method.

Records and Trivia:
# AB de Villiers has become the jointly the fastest to 1000 World Cup runs, in 20 innings – Tendulkar also did so in 20 inns.

# Shahid Afridi never score a fifty in World Cup matches, his highest individual score is is 37 – v Zimbabwe at The Oval 1999.

# This was Shahid Afridi’s 500th match in international cricket, the first Pakistani to play 500 matches.

# Misbah-ul-Haq (277 runs this WC) fell 3-run short to become the leading runs scorer in this World Cup – Gayle 279.