PAK vs SA | Twitter in awe as De Kock and Burger shine in South Africa’s comprehensive win in second ODI

‌Quinton de Kock scored his first ODI century after returning from retirement as South Africa beat Pakistan by eight wickets in Faisalabad on Thursday. The wicketkeeper anchored the chase with an unbeaten century after left-arm pacer Nandre Burger registered a four-wicket haul as the visitors were back 1-1 in the three-match duel.

The Men in Green had a disastrous start after opting to bat at the Iqbal Stadium, as Nandre Burger dismissed opener Fakhar Zaman for a three-ball duck. Things went further south with the left-arm pacer sending back the senior duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, in his third over, with the score reading just 22. However, fellow opener Saim Ayub and Salman Agha rescued the home side with their 92-run stand for the fourth wicket, scoring contrasting half centuries. Ayub was the aggressor among the duo, scoring five fours and a six completing his fifty in 61 balls, before being dismissed by Corbin Bosch for 53 in the 25th over. However, Agha continued to hold one end up, albeit moving at a very slow pace, taking 82 balls to bring up his half-century. The Pakistan T20I captain hit five fours during his 106-ball 69, but his dismissal left the Men in Green at a slippery 190/6 with just nine overs remaining. However, Mohammad Nawaz’s run-a-ball 59, along with Faheem Ashraf’s (28) entertaining cameo took them to a competitive 269/9 in their allotted 50 overs. Nawaz smashed four sixes and three fours during his knock while Ashraf had two fours and sixes during his 18-ball knock. Burger was the most impressive bowler on display with figures of 4/46 in 10 overs, while Nqabayomzi Peter and Bosch had three and two wickets, respectively.

Chasing 270, the Proteas had a good start with Lhuan-dre Pretorius hitting three boundaries in the second over from Naseem Shah. The left-handed opener continued to show intent, smashing Shaheen Afridi for a six and a four in the same over before welcoming Mohammad Waseem into the attack with consecutive boundaries. Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock started watchfully from the other end as the visitors ended the powerplay at a strong 65/0. Just as the wicketkeeper-batter shifted gears with two sixes in the next two overs, Pakistan drew first blood with Wasim dismissing Pretorius (46) in the 12th over. De Kock brought up his fifty in style with a six off Ashraf in the 17th over just after the Proteas crossed the 100-run mark. Soon, Tony de Zorzi also joined the party with a four and two sixes off Nawaz and three more boundaries of Wasim an over later to complete his fifty in 40 balls. Both players looked comfortable in the middle taking the visitors past 200 in the 29th over to within touching distance of a convincing win. The Kolkata Knight Riders batter completed his century two overs later but de Zorzi was unlucky to miss out on the three-figure makr after getting caught at point off a leading edge from Ashraf. The southpaw hit nine fours and three sixes to score 76 off 63 balls during his 153-run association with de Kock. But the latter remained unbeaten on 123 off 119 balls with seven sixes and eight fours as the Proteas closed reached 270/2 comfortably with 59 balls to spare. For Pakistan, Mohammad Wasim and Faheem Ashraf had a wicket each with captain Afridi trying out as many as eight bowling options.

 Kock Storm 🔥

Elite List

Pure Carnage 🔥

De Kock is back

Most Tons!

He is back!

Century!

Well played!

Finally!

Big one!