Johannesburg is located in South Africa. Rain. A World Cup match played in Sydney. At least they were not eliminated from the tournament, as was the case thirty years earlier.
The future of the Proteas in the tournament is still in their control. On Sunday, they must defeat the Netherlands in Adelaide.
A couple of poor fielding blunders immediately after the mid-innings drinks break in Pakistan’s innings altered the match’s momentum for the Proteas.
The Proteas controlled the opening half of Pakistan’s innings due to the continued excellence of Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, and Anrich Nortje’s seam bowling.
They constantly assaulted the stumps and made effective use of pace variations to confuse Pakistan’s top order.
At the conclusion of the seventh over, Pakistan’s score was 43/4 and they sorely needed a partnership. This was achieved with the assistance of Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz, who shared a partnership of 52 runs for the fifth wicket before the drinks break.
As a result of a misfield by Tabraiz Shamsi on the third man boundary in the 12th over, what should have been a simple catch resulting in a single for Nawaz turned into a four instead. In the following over, Aiden Markram gave Nawaz another gift when he misjudged the flight of the ball and rushed off the long-off boundary, converting a straightforward catch into a boundary.
Between the eleventh and nineteenth overs, Pakistan scored 106 runs, with Iftikhar scoring 51 runs off 35 balls with three fours and two sixes. Shadab Khan scored 52 runs off 22 balls, the second-fastest fifty for Pakistan in Twenty20 Internationals. He hit three fours and four sixes during his innings.
Markram and Parnell both dropped catches in the last two overs as the Proteas’ fielding errors accumulated in deteriorating conditions brought on by the rain.
Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw were dismissed by Shaheen Shah Afridi in his first two overs, which further boosted Pakistan’s confidence.
The comeback to form of the captain, Temba Bavuma, who produced some magnificent smashes while hitting 36 runs off 19 balls. However, his and Markram’s dismissal in the eighth over to Shadab turned the contest decisively in favor of Pakistan. Rain stopped play one over later, thus the needed total after the interval was always going to be challenging.
Heinrich Klaasen and Tristan Stubbs offered the Proteas some hope by scoring 26 runs off the first two overs following the rain, but a stunning over of yorkers from Mohammad Wasim jr and then good slower balls from Naseem Shah extinguished that hope.