The 2023 World Cup needed that one humdinger after a slew of mostly one-sided games. And we got to see one of those classic thrillers in Chennai, as South Africa edged Pakistan by a solitary wicket to clinch a memorable victory. This is the first time that South Africa have defeated Pakistan in a World Cup game (ODIs and T20Is) in seven attempts since 1999.
As South Africa inched closer towards victory, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi and Usama Mir bowled incisively to almost make it Pakistan’s day. Keshav Maharaj, however, waded through the tricky spells of old-ball swing from Pakistan’s pace bowlers before pulling one off Mohammad Nawaz, the left-arm spinner, to take South Africa home. Maharaj removed the helmet and roared in delight. Aiden Markram played the pivotal role for the Proteas with a fluent 91.
There was drama and action right through the slog overs. After a couple of narrow escapes, the experienced David Miller edged one to the wicketkeeper off Afridi in the 34th over. Marco Jansen then used his reach to crack a loft or two. Just when South Africa were again gaining the upper hand, the tall all-rounder chipped a slower one from Rauf to Babar Azam.
With Markram at the crease, the South African camp would have still believed they would pull off a victory. With the score reading 250 for 6, Markram lost concentration and skewed a loft straight to Babar off Usama Mir at backward point. Mir had come in as a concussion substitute for Shadab Khan. Gerald Coetzee, who has some ability with the bat, was dislodged by an away-swinger from Afridi.
Thereon, it basically came down to Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi finding ways to block out some contrast swing generated by Pakistan’s fast bowlers. Afridi went round the wicket and beat the edge of the both lower-order batters with away-swingers. Curiously, the left-arm pace bowler didn’t employ the in-swinger from round the wicket. Maharaj and Ngidi also showed batting smarts as they looked to play the line versus away-swing. Eventually, Afridi attempted the in-swinger from over the wicket, but Maharaj kept it out.
In the 45th over, Wasim Junior went the other way by mostly bowling in-swing. Just that he too couldn’t make the breakthrough. It was left to Haris to end the stubborn stand. Rauf took a blinder of a catch off his bowling to send Ngidi back to the hut. He could have very well closed out the match as well but Alex Wharf, the umpire, turned down a loud appeal for an LBW appeal against Tabraiz Shamsi, the last man.
Pakistan rightly took the review, but the ball tracker ended up showing that it would just clip the leg-stump. So, it stayed as not out. Maharaj and Shamsi also paddled through Wasim’s final over before providing the finishing touches in the very next over.
The platform for South Africa’s win was set by Markram. The elegant right-hander once again put on a wonderful exhibition of lofts, drives and pulls. When the Pakistan fast bowlers provided width, Markram also employed the cut shot. He stitched key stands of 54 with Van der Dussen and more importantly, 70 with Miller. At 206 for 4, South Africa seemed to be in a cruise mode but it eventually turned out to be a nail-biter.
Earlier, Babar Azam (50), Saud Shakeel (52) and Shadab played vital knocks to take Pakistan to a competitive total on a tricky pitch. None of the batters, though, were able to convert starts into scores of substance. Pakistan lost their last three wickets for the cost of just 11 runs, which didn’t help their cause.
Meanwhile, for South Africa, Jansen bagged three wickets. Shamsi, the left-arm wrist spinner, also played his part by taking a four-for. In fact, Shamsi taking the scalp of Shakeel in the 43rd over with a quicker delivery was one of the turning points of the game. Ngidi and Coetzee took the rest of the wickets.
This win is also important for South Africa as there were question marks hanging over their ability to chase down targets. South Africa are now placed on top of the points table having played a game more than India. Pakistan have just two wins from six games and would require some kind of a miracle to make it to the last four.