An amazing last over from Junaid Khan & century by Ahmed Shezad helps Misbah's men clinch a memorable series victory.

by Pakpassion Staff (27th November 2013)

Toss: South African won the toss and chose to field.

Teams:

Pakistan: 1. Nasir Jamshed, 2. Ahmed Shehzad, 3.Mohammad Hafeez, 4. Sohaib Maqsood, 5. Misbah-ul-Haq(c), 6. Umar Akmal (wk), 7.Shahid Afridi, 8. Bilawal Bhatti, 9. Saeed Ajmal, 10. Junaid Khan, 11. Anwar Ali 

South Africa: 1.GC Smith, 2.HM Amla, 3.Q de Kock(wk), 4.JH Kallis, 5.AB de Villiers(c), 6.JP Duminy, 7. DA Miller, 8. R McLaren, 9. DW Steyn, 10. L Tsotsobe, Imran Tahir 
 

After an excellent win in the 1st ODI for Pakistan, the series moved to Cape Town for the 2nd match where the visitors looked to seal their first ever ODI series win in South Africa. Pakistan named an unchanged side while the hosts brought in Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Ryan McLaren for Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel. After a rain delay which reduced the match to 45 overs per side, South Africa won the toss and elected to field.

The innings began poorly for Pakistan, as a Steyn inswinger crashed into Nasir Jamshed’s off stump. Mohammad Hafeez’s struggles against Steyn also continued as he edged behind – Steyn has now dismissed Hafeez 15 times across the recent series between the two teams. After 7 overs, Pakistan were struggling on 22/2 but this brought Ahmed Shehzad and Sohaib Maqsood together at the crease, and they began to rebuild.

The pair built their partnership with some good running between the wickets as well as picking up regular boundaries to keep up an excellent scoring rate. Shehzad was particularly ruthless on any loose deliveries and brought up his 50 off 58 balls after a Kallis over which yielded 11 runs. De Villiers looked to change things up with the part time spin of JP Duminy but his first two overs went for22 to leave Pakistan well placed on 133/2 after 25 overs.

Sohaib Maqsood, who had looked excellent for his 42, then handed South Africa the breakthrough. Looking to go big off McLaren, he only succeeded in spooning the ball to extra cover where Amla took an easy catch. Shortly after, Shehzad reached his 3rd ODI century with a drive down the ground of Tahir, but then two quick wickets pegged Pakistan back. First, Misbah was strangled down leg side and feathered one to the keeper, before a mixup between Shehzad and Umar Akmal brought an end to the opener’s excellent innings.

Umar Akmal continued to find the boundary though, and a fantastic six off McLaren was another demonstration of his talent. Afridi fell to Steyn before the hero of the last game, Bilawal Bhatti came in and showed the batters how to handle Steyn. Three boundaries in four balls in the 43rd over signalled his intent but Steyn had the last laugh when he forced an edge behind. More boundaries came in the following over but an eventful end to the innings meant that Pakistan didn’t quite finish with a flourish. Anwar Ali was out obstructing the field, Akmal edged behind before Ajmal was out off the final ball. Steyn finished with six wickets as Pakistan scored 262 from their allotted 45 overs. 



Fall Of Wickets

1-2 (Nasir Jamshed, 0.5 ov), 
2-22 (Mohammad Hafeez, 6.5 ov), 
3-146 (Sohaib Maqsood, 28.1 ov), 
4-176 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 33.5 ov), 
5-180 (Ahmed Shehzad, 34.6 ov), 
6-214 (Shahid Afridi, 39.5 ov), 
7-241 (Bilawal Bhatti, 42.6 ov), 
8-261 (Anwar Ali, 44.3 ov), 
9-261 (Umar Akmal, 44.4 ov), 
10-262 (Saeed Ajmal, 44.6 ov)

 

Chasing 262 on a pitch which was expected to take spin was always going to be a challenge and when Graeme Smith fell to Junaid Khan for just one run, the target became that much difficult for the home side. 

de Kock and Amla then combined in a 87 run partnership but the run rate was steadily climbing towards the 7 mark. The pressure finally caught up with de Kock who sent the ball into Misbah’s hands off Afridi. In walked Kallis but some fine bowling by Afridi induced a false stroke from the stalwart – a slog sweep which a calm Saeed Ajmal accepted with thanks.

The Amal – de Villiers partnership was picking runs at a very brisk rate but the run rate had crossed 8 runs an over and the hopes of squaring the series were fading fast. If there was to be a fight back, it was going to come from this partnership. De Villiers was in particular brutal on Pakistani bowlers and they felt the power of one of the best players in the One day game as he dispatched them to all parts of the ground. From a seemingly un-gettable run rate of almost over 8 runs an over, the asking rate was brought down to 6 an over in quick time. With South Africa within striking distance of Pakistan’s total, AB de Villiers fell to Junaid Khan – could there be a twist in the tail?

JP Duminy joined Amla who was playing his usual composed innings and both looked to take South Africa towards victory. The run rate was about 6 an over and with 6 wickets in hand, the match was there for the taking for the hosts. With Ab de Villiers gone, Pakistan had another chance to try and put pressure on the South Africans but JP Duminy was playing with assured ease. At this point the game was going South Africa’s way until a smart bit of bowling by Saeed Ajmal which resulted in Amla holding out to Hafeez in the deep. As the last over began, Duminy realized that the new batsman Miller could not be relied to deliver at such a short notice. He then played an expansive pull only to be picked up by Anwar Ali in spectacular fashion. McLaren who walked in next could not put away Junaid to get the required 9 runs that were needed in the last over.

A memorable over by a hobbling Junaid Khan thus resulted in a memorable 1 run victory for the visitors who have now taken a unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series.

Fall Of wickets

1-9 (Smith, 4.3 ov), 
2-96 (de Kock, 21.4 ov), 
3-117 (Kallis, 25.4 ov), 
4-227 (de Villiers, 38.4 ov),
5-254 (Amla, 43.6 ov), 
6-255 (Duminy, 44.2 ov)
 

Pakistan seemed to be on course for an easy win when AB de Villiers decided to take matters in his own hands and almost single-handedly took the game away from the visitors. After a long time, Pakistani batting seemed to come to the party but the bowling had no answer to the brilliance of one man. Junaid Khan then held his nerve to get Pakistan a much needed series victory at the end but the Pakistan spinners and fielders fought to the end to make this a truly memorable occasion.

Discuss!