Watch cricket video highlights of Pakistan tour of South Africa 2024. Second ODI between Pakistan and South Africa. Venue of the match will be Cape Town.
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Over the last six weeks, Pakistan has produced its greatest all-around ODI performance in all three series, crushing South Africa by 81 runs to win the ODI series for the third time in a row. After Pakistan scored 329 runs in the second ODI in Cape Town thanks to half-centuries from Kamran Ghulam, Babar Azam, and Muhammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi dominated with the ball. Despite Heinrich Klaasen’s valiant 97 from 74 balls, South Africa was never able to establish partnerships.
However, Afridi regained his form, ending with four wickets as South Africa was bowled out for 248. He was dangerous at the top and deadly with the reverse swinging ball at the end. South Africa opened the chase with conviction and purpose, just as they did in the first innings at Paarl. South Africa got off to a fast start as the returning Temba Bavuma flicked Afridi off his pads for a four off the first ball. They regularly penetrated the dense infield to find the boundaries they required to control the asking rate.
Tony de Zorzi and Rassie van der Dussen continued at the same fast pace after Naseem Shah got the South Africa captain to draw first blood with a leading edge, and South Africa dominated the first powerplay. The hosts, however, were plagued by the clusters of wickets that Pakistan has become adept at capturing in order to halt the momentum of the opposition. Aiden Markram, van der Dussen, and De Zorzi all fell within 39 runs of one another, instantly putting Klaasen under pressure to do another Houdini trick.
He and David Miller seemed to have put South Africa back on track with a combination that blended aggressiveness and security, as the hosts’ run-a-ball of 72 put them squarely back in the game. However, Afridi chose the right time to unleash what may have been his most spectacular run since suffering the injury that has largely halted his career two years ago. He found it in himself to bowl closer to 140 kph, adjusting his wrist position to take advantage of the reverse swing that suddenly seemed to be on offer.
As the lights came on full force and the match was poised on a tightrope. We all believed that he had chopped Miller in two when he fizzed one past him; however, Afridi was certain that it had kissed the inside edge, and the technology bore him out when they got upstairs. The dismissal of Marco Jansen, however, had the highest technical purity. It curved against the middle stump as it came around the wicket, then seemed to veer off course, crashing into the base of middle and off with Jansen’s bat nowhere in sight.
It took a second review to confirm that Andile Phehlukwayo had been hit on the toe before the ball touched his bat and that he was in fact plumb in front since he was finding late swing so quickly that even the umpire was having trouble picking it up. Klaasen had been battling alone all this time, and it was becoming more and more clear that he was losing the war. When he stepped onto the back foot for his signature hook over cow corner and used his range well to cut the ball into the off side.
He was especially merciless in knocking down Salman Agha, the star of the previous game. When he hit Naseem to deep midwicket in a futile attempt to get a hundred he so rightfully earned, he ultimately ran out of partners, if nothing else for failing to adequately protect the shot as he reached his own hundred. Pakistan set South Africa an intimidating 330 to chase after Babar and his old mate Rizwan shared a third-wicket stand of 115 runs, Babar’s first half-century in 22 innings.
However, when those two were batting, that total didn’t appear so high, and it only skyrocketed because of Ghulam’s explosive late burst, as he bludgeoned 63 off 32 balls. South Africa’s dramatic retreat in both the fielding and their lines was advantageous to them. On a picture-perfect day at Newlands, Bavuma had chosen to field first, and South Africa got off to an equally idyllic start when Marco Jansen dismissed Abdullah Shafique for a second consecutive duck.
However, it wasn’t until Saim Ayub was sent off at the end of the powerplay—after swiping at a wide one off rookie Kwena Maphaka and finding van der Dussen well situated at deep third—that South Africa really got going. Babar and Rizwan instantly abandoned Pakistan’s sense of urgency in favor of the more traditional tempo that suits them so well. For a moment, it seemed like the game had reached a phase when each team was getting what they desired, with both attempting to regain the runs and South Africa preferring to choke the scoring rather than chase the wickets.
Even so, there were always aggressive moments, such when Babar milked the spinners for the rare boundary and Rizwan smeared Markram over cow corner for six. Nonetheless, it was clear that Pakistan was backloading the innings as the asking rate consistently ranged between 4.75 and 5.1. At short midwicket, Babar smacked Phehlukwayo straight to Markram, who barely managed to hold on as it thudded into his chest. Babar had already reached fifty and appeared to be getting close to that elusive hundred.
With a spectacular diving return catch, Maphaka removed Rizwan, and South Africa gained the upper hand. However, Ghulam dispelled any such ideas. Ghulam proved his worth as a lower-order power hitter with Salman, who punished some careless bowling. He made excellent use of his bottom hand, smashing five sixes in a flurry of a knock. It took both velocity and spin to reach the half-century, which was reached in just 25 deliveries. Before he holed out to Maphaka in the last over, Irfan Niazi, Shaheen, and Haris Rauf were decent value for the odd six from the other end.
Ghulam was primarily responsible for Pakistan’s late charge, which saw them score 128 in the last 12 overs. However, the reason it was conceivable was because Pakistan had done something that South Africa had not been able to achieve during the series. They have maintained wickets in hand while pacing an ODI innings. Klaasen may have been as skilled at playing the part of Ghulam in the end, but he had no one with whom to play it when he fell to his knees after Pakistan won.
