Toss:
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat

Teams:

Pakistan
Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan,Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal†, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan


South Africa
GC Smith, HM Amla, CA Ingram, AB de Villiers, F du Plessis, F Behardien, R McLaren, RJ Peterson, , KJ Abbott, LL Tsotsobe, DW Steyn


South African innings

After the nightmare of their defeat in the 1st ODI, Pakistan knew that they had to fight back hard in the second game to make sure the series stayed alive.

Pakistan made early strikes after Irfan took two wickets off two in his third over, The second wicket of Ingram being referred to the third umpire after not initially being given.

Irfan struck again in his next over to get the prize wicket of the captain to reduce South Africa to 35/4. De villiers tried to guide the ball past the slips but instead ended up edging it in the safe hands of Younis Khan.

Smith was the next man to go edging one behind trying to play the pull shot. The boundaries kept flowing between the wickets as South Africa reached 62 for 4. Mohammad Irfan bowled a brute of a bouncer to get a caught and bowled off Faf du Plesis. 

Behardien and Mclaren came together to keep the scoreboard ticking, Making a partnership of 44 before Mclaren was given LBW to Hafeez. Behardien and Peterson continued to milk spinners during the middle overs. Putting the bad balls away and rotating strike easily. Behardien eventually reached his maiden 50 in ODI's soaking up the pressure exerted by Pakistan. His innings soon came to an end when he tried to pull one over the boundary finding the fielder instead.

Rain interrupted soon after which meant that the match would be reduced to 44 overs a side. Pakistani bowlers then mopped up the rest of the South African wickets in a hurry, with the home side managing to get to just 191 before being bowled out.

Fall of wickets 
1-26 (Amla, 4.2 ov)
2-26 (Ingram, 4.3 ov)
3-35 (de Villiers, 6.2 ov)
4-43 (Smith, 7.5 ov)
5-62 (du Plessis, 10.6 ov)
6-106 (McLaren, 20.3 ov)
7-173 (Behardien, 38.3 ov)
8-179 (Abbott, 39.1 ov)
9-191 (Steyn, 42.6 ov)
10-191 (Peterson, 43.2 ov)


Pakistan innings

Pakistan started off cautiously before Nasir Jamshed edged one to slips. They then took the unusual step of promoting Kamran up the order to try and quicken the run rate.

South Africa were on top as Hafeez and Kamran departed in successive overs. Hafeez fell to Steyn, His tormentor in the test series. Kamran Akmal went soon after getting bowled trying to play the cut shot.

Misbah and Younis came together to string a partnership of 46 to rescue Pakistan, Both played a cautious and patience innings to make sure Pakistan would not collapse.

Younis got caught at deep square leg on a full toss. Pakistan were still uncertain at 115/4 but a solid knock from both Misbah and Malik would ensure that Pakistan would get home comfortably with balls to spare.

Misbah's 21st 50 and his first against South Africa saw him lead his team to a comfortable victory over South Africans and may go some way in answering his critics

Fall of wickets 
1-29 (Nasir Jamshed, 7.5 ov)
2-63 (Mohammad Hafeez, 13.2 ov)
3-69 (Kamran Akmal, 14.3 ov)
4-115 (Younis Khan, 25.4 ov)



Mohammad Irfan led the way taking early wickets with the new ball to stifle South Africa. Behardien and Peterson were the only two batsmen who managed to bring South Africa's total to some respectability. A rain interruption meant that the match would be reduced to 44 overs a side.

Pakistani batting looked uncomfortable at the start but with the calmness and solidity of Misbah and Younis at the crease, Pakistan comfortably got over the line with plenty of overs to spare.

The visitors now need to take this momentum to the rest of the games but the fitness of Irfan - there main weapon today - will be of concern and may well decide the final outcome of this series