Riding on the back of an inspired bowling effort from Ryan McLaren, South Africa posted a thrilling 67-run win over Pakistan in their crucial Champions Trophy Group ‘B’ match on Monday.
Chasing 235 for a win, Pakistan started off well but eventually fell by the wayside as they were bowled out for 167 in 45 overs.
Earlier, Hashim Amla (81) did most of the run scoring for South Africa
Despite a splendid job by Pakistani pacers upfront, South African batsmen did succeed in getting good starts, however, they were guilty of not converting those into big knocks. Faf du Plessis (28), skipper AB de Villiers (31) and JP Duminy (24) all departed after making small contributions.
Amla too gifted his wicket on an extravagant shot, a reverse sweep, as he was batting confidently and hardly looked like troubled by any bowler. His 81 came off 97 balls with nine shots to the fence.
Resultantly, South Africa did not have the kind of batsmen who could get some quick runs to give fillip to the innings towards the end.
Pakistani pacemen were not unplayable but they did extract good bounce off the pitch to trouble the Proteas.
Spinners Saeed Ajmal and Mahammed Hafeez too played a part in stifling the Proteas innings. They got just a wicket each but conceded just 42 and 38 runs respectively.
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