South Africa win by 6 runs as Miller shines on field
CAP TOWN: Pakistan’s record of 11 T20 wins came to a halt as South Africa beat them by 6 runs in the first T20I at Newlands on Friday.
In a closely fought encounter, the match went down to the last over where 16 were needed but the home team held their nerves to eke out a win. Malik scored 49 while Shamsi picked 2/33. But the stand out performer was David Miller with 4 catches and 2 direct hits. Chasing 193, Pakistan ended at 186/9 (20 ovs)
Earlier, 78 from captain Faf du Plessis and a rapid 74 from Reeza Hendricks helped South Africa up to 192/6 at the end of their innings. Usman Shinwari took three wickets for Pakistan.
After missing out on winning the one-day international (ODI) series, Pakistan wants to bounce back in the T20 series with the first match at Newlands.
Pakistan are ranked first in the game’s shortest format while South Africa are fifth. A force to be reckoned with, Pakistan have won 11 T20I series in a row. Their last defeat in a bilateral T20I series came against New Zealand back in January 2016.
On the other hand, South Africa’s T20 form of late hasn’t been nearly as impressive. They have won nine out of 16 T20Is since the last World Cup, though four of them have come against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at home.
Pakistan is without the services of regular skipper Sarfraz Ahmed once again, who is serving a four-match ban after breaching ICC’s anti-racism code. In his absence, Shoaib Malik is leading the team.
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