Seventeen-years after losing to arch-rivals India in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup clash on a now obsolete bowl-out, Pakistan will return to Kingsmead for the first of three T20Is against South Africa on Tuesday.
The memories of the match initially tied -- Pakistan failing to score the 142nd run off the last two deliveries for victory -- was decided in a bowl out. Three bowlers from each side were asked to hit the unguarded stumps. MS Dhoni played a master stroke by sending non regular bowlers in Virendar Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
All three Indians hit the stumps while Pakistan's regular Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi misfired. The two sides met again in the final, which India won in a thrilling finish by five runs. The only other T20I Pakistan played at Kingsmead ended in an easy 51-run win against Scotland.
Times have changed since, and so has the shortest format of the game. India have led the way with rampaging batting which earned them their second T20I World Cup title at Barbados in June this year. They recently crushed South Africa 3-1 in a T20I series with two centuries each from Sanju Samson and Tilak Verma.
Pakistan doesn't play in India's style, cruelly lagging in a big way. While India have smashed 40 200-plus totals in the T20Is, Pakistan have just 11 200-plus total with their last coming way back in September 2022. South Africa are close to India in terms of ram-slam style of batting, notching 200-plus totals 23 times.
The Kingsmead clash pitted the two runners-up of the last two Twenty20 World Cups. South Africa lost the final to India in 2024 while Pakistan came a cropper in 2022 against England.
Pakistan know the task of facing South Africa is challenging. But Mohammad Rizwan-led team can take heart from the fact that they won 3-1 the last time they played a T20I series in Proteas' den in 2019. Then South Africa missed six of their top players who were busy in the IPL. This time too half a dozen top South African players will be missing due to the ongoing home Test series against Sri Lanka.
Pakistan will welcome ace batter Babar Azam, and spearheads Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah -- both rested for the Zimbabwe T20I series which was won 2-1. Rizwan acknowledged the return to two as a boost.
The return of Babar, Naseem and Shaheen to the white-ball squads is a welcome development for the team and with a fine blend of youth and experience, we look forward to do our best against South Africa in this T20I series before the focus shifts to the other two formats.
Mohammad Rizwan
We have been on the road since last month and this is our third successive overseas tour, which has made the unit more proactive in terms of the preparations and getting used to the local conditions as soon as possible.
Mohammad Rizwan
Rizwan admitted a big fillip was needed for the team to switch from flat Zimbabwe pitches to lively ones in South Africa. “The wickets in South Africa will challenge us but at the same time our pacers will benefit from the conditions as well. With the help of Allah, we are eager to continue the winning momentum from the last tour against Zimbabwe," said Rizwan, appointed white-ball skipper last month.
Both teams have shared two T20I series each with one draw when the matches took place in South Africa. In total, Pakistan lead the T20I chart with 12 wins to South Africa's 10.
In the absence of regular white-ball skipper Aiden Markaram the reins are in the hands of Heinrich Klaasen. The dashing batter had captained South Africa in seven T20Is in 2021, losing five and winning two. This time he will miss key players like Markaram, Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tristian Stubbs and Gerald Cotzee. But the returning pacer Anrich Nortje and spinner Tabraiz Shamsi will give his side a big boost.
The remaining two T20s will be in Centurion (December 13) and Johannesburg (December 14). Pakistan will also play three ODIs and two Tests on this South Africa tour.
Pakistan T20I squad: Mohammad Rizwan (captain & wk), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wk).
South Africa T20I squad: Heinrich Klaasen (captain), Ottneil Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Patrick Kruger, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Nqaba Peter, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Andile Simelane, Rassie van der Dussen