South Africa vs Pakistan 2013 : 3rd ODI - Match Report

South Africa beat Pakistan by 4 wickets in the dead rubber to lose the series 1-2. This was the 1st time South Africa won after chasing in 8 matches. The credit goes to the bowlers, who restricted Pakistan to a paltry score of 179. The South African pacers made full use of the pace and bounce in the pitch to trouble the Pakistani batsmen. Pakistan made 4 changes to the squad in the meaningless match. A good toss to win, South Africa obviously chose to bowl first and the pacers took the wickets of Ahmed Shehzad and Asad Shafiq within 10 runs of the Pakistani score. Vernon Philander, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Ryan McLaren and Wayne Parnell all got the ball to kick up from back of a length and tested Pakistan’s line-up with tight lines. Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Amin began the repair work but both of them could score only 25 before getting out in quick succession. Pakistan kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, with only the skipper Misbah-ul-Haq fighting trying to get the team to a respectable score. Pakistan at 97 for 7, it was a situation Misbah-ul-Haq had been in many a time and one he knows how to navigate expertly. Abdur Rehman supported him ably, and stitched a partnership of 51 before Imran Tahir getting him caught. Back to back sixes off Imran Tahir, whom Misbah charged to smack straight down the ground, took him three-quarters of the way to a century, but as been the case throughout his career, he was left stranded with Pakistan on a below-par score.
South Africa started their chase in a brisk manner, scoring 34 runs off 5 overs. But the hurry to finish the match proved dangerous for De Kock as he was the first wicket to fall at the score of 39. Debutante Henry Davids couldn’t impress much and he was foxed by the guile of Ajmal for a score of 7. Amla continued fluently and it was only when he was run-out that South Africa’s nerves tightened. JP Duminy and AB de Villiers were tied down by Pakistan’s spinners and run making became tough. But David Miller brought the aggression and he along with de Villears got the required run rate and the match under control. In the end, South Africa won comfortably with 68 balls remaining.
Vernon Philander was the man of the match for his figures of 10-3-26-3. Saeed Ajmal was the Man of the series for his 5 wickets and economy under 4.