South Africa defeated Pakistan by a wicket in a nail-biter in the 26th match of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, India, on Friday.
The crucial win saw the Proteas jumping to the first position in the points table with a handsome 2.032 net run rate (NRR).
ICC World Cup 2023 points table after Pakistan's fourth loss in the tournament:
Temba Bavuma and his men had a few hiccups during the chase of 271 but Aiden Markram's impressive knock of 91 pushed them close to the finish line.
Pakistan got close to winning the match courtesy of a brilliant performance by their pace attack in the later stages of the match as they needed just a wicket off six runs but Keshav Maharaj held his nerves and stood till the last minute, eventually scoring the winning shot, sealing the deal for the Proteas.
Earlier, Pakistan were bowled out for 270 in 46.4 overs. Tabraiz Shamsi bagged figures of 4/60 while Marco Jansen finished with figures of 3/49. Emerging pacer Gerald Coetzee took two wickets for 2/42.
Pakistan lost their openers – Abdullah Shafique (9) and Imamul Haq (12) – for cheap scores as Marco Jansen struck twice to bring the team under pressure.
Skipper Babar Azam (50) and Mohammad Rizwan tried to build a partnership in order to boost the total but Gerald Coetzee dismissed the latter for 31. The Pakistan captain was removed for 50 and Iftikhar Ahmed fell for 21 by Tabraiz Shamsi.
Saud Shakeel (52) and Shadab Khan (43) took the aggressive route and put scores on the board with fiery boundaries. After their removal, Mohammad Nawaz tried to keep up the momentum so a reasonable total could be built against the Proteas. However, he pulled poorly on Jansen’s delivery and was caught on the off side.
Pakistan’s remaining ICC World Cup 2023 matches
October 31 - vs Bangladesh in Kolkata
November 4 - vs New Zealand Bengaluru (Day match)
November 11 - vs England in Kolkata