South Africa force Pakistan collapse as Babar out for a duck on T20 return

In his third T20 appearance, Babar Azam was given a duck for a duck as under-strength South Africa cruised to a 55-run victory over Pakistan in the series opener.

16, 000 home fans at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium were let down by Corbin Bosch’s twin strike, which included Babar’s wicket.

After captain Donovan Ferreira lost the toss and received the bat first, South Africa had already made 194-9. Reeza Hendricks, the opening batter, scored 60 runs on 40 balls, while George Linde added 36.

Babar, who last played a T20 against South Africa in December of that year, only managed two balls and provided a tame catch to Hendricks inside the powerplay.

At No. 1, Pakistan had recalled Babar. After resting Fakhar Zaman to prepare for the one-day international series against the Proteas against the end of the month, the series will have three episodes.

As he walked out of the first inning, Babar was enthralled by the capacity crowd, who needed nine runs to surpass Rohit Sharma’s all-time T20 international record of 4 231 runs. However, the stands were silent as Babar attempted to break Hendricks’ cover and walked back.

After losing two wickets within the first six overs, Pakistan’s chase failed to gain momentum. In Nandre Burger’s first over, Sam Ayub should have been dismissed without scoring, but Matthew Breetzke dropped him at third before the left-hander top-scored with 37 runs.

Mohammad Nawaz, one of the four batters who reached double figures, made 36 off 20 balls and had a better chance of getting Pakistan bowled out for less money.

In his second start, Bosch added two wickets, going 4-14, with Linde claiming 3-31.

In the absence of David Miller, who was injured, Ferreira said, “It was a collective effort.” Linde did a strong powerplay batting performance, and Linde did well. With the ball, we wanted to keep it simple and clean.

Reeza did a great job of holding it together for us, which allowed George Bosch to explode, “Ferreira continued. He] had really good energy on the ball.” He typically avoids the Yorkers, but today he hit the deck and escaped. “Four wickets is a remarkable accomplishment.

Quinton de Kock made an aggressive comeback to the sport’s shortest format since his last appearance at the T20 World Cup, in contrast to Babar.

Hendricks and de Kock started the game with a blistering 44 runs off 23 balls, with de Kock smashing five boundaries in his 23 before getting caught in Ayub’s backward turn.

In his first T20 in 11 months, debutant Tony de Zorzi kept the momentum going with his 33 off 16 balls as South Africa racked up a 74-1 lead in the first six overs with Naseem Shah (11-45) missing lengths and Naseem Shah (11-34) off target.

By the halfway point, the Proteas were leading 111-3 before Pakistan spinners pulled them back. Nawaz, a leg-spinner with left, scored 3-26 and Ayub finished with 2-31, but Hendricks kept one end intact before falling to leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed (1-42) in the 18th over.

In the 17th over, Linde showed some late intent and smacked Afridi for 18 runs, including a life when Babar dropped a sitter midway that rolled over the boundary.

Salman Ali Agha, the captain of Pakistan, said, “We just need to bat properly.” We are unable to find partners, but we can still find partners who can generate such numbers. In the powerplay, we also didn’t bowl well. The upside is how we later pulled it back, although throwing the top of the off stump would have been acceptable.