Sydney: Pakistan beat South Africa (which beat India earlier) for a dominating 33 runs to make their semifinal dreams come alive on Thursday at the Men's T20I World Cup 2022 Group 2 match here. Pak reached the third position in the points table.
The rain-reduced match gave SA a target of 142 in 14 overs, instead of 186 posed by Pakistan, but SA could only reach up to 108 after the overs ran out. After the match, Pak maintained their perfect record over SA in the history of Men's T20 World Cups with their fourth victory in as many meetings.
Pakistan, who won the toss and decided to bat first, but lost star openers, skipped Babar Azam (6), Mohammad Rizwan (4) as well as Shan Masood (2) from the start itself. Then Mohammad Haris exhibited a show of 11-ball knock of 28, which included two fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 254.55
Later, Iftikhar (51 of 35) Ahmed joined Mohammad Nawaz (28 off 22 balls to add 52 runs. He partnered with Shadab khan to add a crucial 82-run to reach 185/9. Shadab (52 off 22) scored the fastest fifty by a Pak batter, with three boundaries and four sixes.
South Africa, for the worst, exhibited sloppy fielding. They dropped as many as five catches as well as erratic fielding at the greasy felid.
When Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw left cheaply during the chase, captain Temba Bavuma scored 19-ball 36, hitting four fours and a six. But Shadab Khan picked him out.
After Aiden Makram got castled, SA fell to 69/4.
An hour's interruption caused by rain cut six overs from the chase, and when play resumed, South Africa needed 75 runs off the remaining five overs, with the target readjusted to 142 in 14 overs as per the DLS method.
Pakistan now needs to win their next match against Bangladesh at Adelaide on Sunday and then hope that either India or South Africa lose their final Group 2 matches to Zimbabwe and Netherlands, respectively.
Brief scores: Pakistan 185/9 in 20 overs (Shadab Khan 52, Iftikhar Ahmed 51; Anrich Nortje 4/41, Wayne Parnell 1/31) beat South Africa 108/9 in 14 overs (Temba Bavuma 36, Aiden Markram 20; Shaheen Shah Afridi 3/14, Shadab Khan 2/16) by 33 runs (via DLS method)