Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan keep Pakistan’s hopes alive by ending South Africa’s unbeaten run

SYDNEY, November 3

Pakistan kept alive their slim hopes of reaching the T20 World Cup semifinals with a 33-run victory over South Africa in a rain-shortened Super 12 match today, bringing the tournament’s only unbeaten record to an end in the process.

On the ropes at 43/4 early in their innings, Pakistan rallied behind spectacular half-centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan to post 185/9 and delight the lively crowd of 30,000 roaring them on at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

South Africa would still have fancied their chances but Shaheen Shah Afridi (3/14) claimed two early wickets and Khan removed Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram, who had built a promising third-wicket partnership of 49, in quick succession.

The skies opened soon afterwards with South Africa on 69/4 after nine overs and an hour later they resumed with a revised target of 142 from five more overs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, only to fall well short at 108/9.

The Proteas remain in second place behind India in Group 2 despite the loss and will secure one of the two semis spots if they beat Netherlands in their final Super 12 match on Sunday.

To have any chance of progressing, Pakistan must beat Bangladesh in Sunday’s second match at Adelaide Oval and hope the Dutch have staged an upset or Zimbabwe manage to stun India in the final group match in Melbourne.

“Our first two matches were close losses but we’ve given 100% in our last two matches,” said Pakistan skipper Babar Azam. “Cricket is a funny game, you never know, so we’ll hope for the best.”

Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the last-four stage were already hanging by a thread coming into the match and it looked all over for them when top-order batsmen Mohammad Rizwan, Azam and Shan Masood all departed cheaply.

Mohammad Haris, thrown straight into the fray after coming into the squad as an injury replacement for Fakhar Zaman, had, however, showed his teammates the way with a blistering 28 off 11 balls that started with two sixes and a four.

Ahmed, who hit 51, and Khan, who clubbed 52 off 22 balls, followed his lead with a partnership of 82 for the sixth wicket to transform the innings, which ended with a rain shower, a few boundaries and a flurry of wickets.

Markram was bowled for 20 two balls later and after the rain break seamers Afridi, Mohammad Wasim and Naseem Shah successfully shackled the South Africans while chipping away with regular wickets.

“I think it’s quite disappointing the way we finished our bowling effort, there’s a lot of questions we need to ask ourselves,” said Bavuma. — Agencies

Brief scores: Pakistan: 185/9 in 20 overs (Khan 52, Ahmed 51; Nortje 4/41); South Africa: 108/9 in 14 overs (Bavuma 36; Afridi 3/14); DLS target: 142