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South Africa, at last, managed a hard-fighting victory by one wicket against Pakistan in the 26th game of the World Cup in Chennai.
The Proteas overtook the target of 271 runs with 16 balls remaining after they lost their nine wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
In reply to 270, South Africa got a quite good start despite losing two wickets for 67 runs inside the mandatory powerplay. Temba Bavuma (28 from 27) and Quinton de Kock (24 from 14) departed early after having niece connection to ball with the bat.
Aiden Markram (91) was the batter who set the platform for the tough win as he made several partnerships with batters on the other side. Of them, a 54-run stand along with Rassie van der Dussen (21) and a 70-run stand with David Miller (29) were notable.
After that, South Africa kept losing wickets in quick succession and at one stage they lost their nine wickets. But Keshav Maharaj (7) and Tabraiz Shamsi (4) held their nerves to ensure the victory at the end.
Shaheen Afridi picked up the highest three wickets for Pakistan while Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf and Usama Mir got two wickets each.
Earlier, Pakistan were bowled out for 270 runs in the consequence of continuously losing wickets as they could not create any notable momentum.
Opting to bat, Pakistan kept losing wickets from the very beginning as they offered two wickets between 20 and 38 runs. Then Babar Azam (50) came in and made several partnerships including 50-run and 43-run stands along with Mohammad Rizwan (31) and Iftikhar Ahmed (21) respectively.
However, Babar also departed after completing a half-century, leaving his team under huge trouble.
Later, Saud Shakeel (52) and Shadab Khan (43) built the highest 84-run stand between them and resisted the Protea bowlers in the middle but did not last long enough. Mohammad Nawaz (24) made a notable contribution to take the total above the 270 mark.
Tabraiz Shamsi was the pick of the South African bowlers getting four wickets while Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee bagged three and two wickets respectively.
Pakistan XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafiq, Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf.
South Africa XI: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Rassie von der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Janssen, Gerald Kozi, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi.
