After winning the opening Twenty20 match in Johannesburg, South Africa will take on Pakistan again in the second and final match, before entering the three-match ODI series. The match will be played at Newlands, Cape Town on Friday.
Where to Watch Live:
The second T20 match will begin at 9:30 pm IST (16:00 GMT) and it will be telecast live on Super Sports HD2, Ten Cricket and Ten HD. For live streaming, log on to Super Sport official website. To catch the match in the U.K. by live streaming online, click HERE. You can watch the match Live online in the U.S., by clicking HERE.
Overview:
South Africa will be high on confidence after winning the previous contest by four runs (D/L Method after a rain interrupted play) on Wednesday. They had earlier swept the two-match T20 series in UAE. They will now be looking forward to win the second game too.
On the other hand, Pakistan must have been hurt by the humiliating defeats in UAE. And after the loss in Johannesburg, they will be keen to bounce back and level the series on Friday, to set some momentum, ahead of the ODI series starting on Sunday.
Previous Meetings:
South Africa have a 6-4 win-loss record over Pakistan in the 10 T20 matches played so far.
Team News:
South Africa are likely to field the same squad that played at Johannesburg despite poor middle order performance. Pakistan, on the hand have been hit by injury with Mohammad Irfan being ruled out of the series. Shoaib Malik is also unlikely to play on Friday.
Preview:
After dominating both the T20 and ODI series in the recently concluded tour of UAE, South Africa put up another winning performance on Wednesday. Though they won the match by D/L Method after a rain interrupted play, it will boost their confidence. Openers Quinton de Kock (43) and Hashim Amla (31) set up a good start by putting on 72 runs but the middle order collapsed, restricting their score to 153. Batsmen need to stay at the crease a little longer if they are to win on Friday. Bowlers took two wickets in 9.1 overs, before play was stopped by rain.
Pakistan began the first T20 match on a shaky note with openers Ahmed Shehzad (9) and Nasir Jamshed (18) being sent back to the pavilion even before they could settle down. They had more batsmen in the line-up but the early blow cost them the match at the end of the day. They need a good start from the openers on Friday, so that the middle order can add some quick runs.
Mohammad Hafeez and Junaid Khan took two wickets apiece in the previous match. The bowlers managed to restrict South Africa's score of the host to 153, after the openers gave a solid start. They will be expected to take early wickets on Friday and push Faf du Plessis' men to the backfoot.
After looking at the composition and recent performances of both teams, South Africa clearly stand out as favourites to win the series but Pakistan can bounce back and surprise any team on their day.
Prediction:
South Africa are the favourites to win.
Squads:
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt.), Hashim Amla, Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, David Wiese, Imran Tahir, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Pakistan squad for ODI and T20: Mohammad Hafeez (T20 captain), Misbah-ul-Haq (ODI captain) Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Sohail Tanveer, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Nasir Jamshed, Asad Shafiq, Bilawal Bhatti.
