 Pakistan play South Africa in the second match of the T20I series to be played at Abu Dhabi. South Africa had won the first T20I easily after they
had wobbled to begin with and now lead the series 1-0. A win here for them would
get them a fourth consecutive T20I. On the other hand, Pakistan stand
of the perch of losing another series.
Click for Live Score Card of Pakistan Vs South Africa Pakistan struggle to come to grips with their batting yet again in the first
T20I. Most of their batsmen struggled with the bat and it was only a seven-ball
blitzkrieg from Shahid Afridi that gave them the momentum. However, even
by the T20 standards, a seven ball innings can never be par for the course and
that is exactly what happened.
With none of the other batsmen really getting a momentum, the Pakistanis were
bowled out for 119 - too low a total to defend in the absence of the likes of
Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.
What the Pakistani team needs to do is to get control over their batting.
Mohammad Hafeez looks like a fish out of water at that number three position
and if he is played in the side, he needs to bat lower down the order. His bowling
is handy and that is probably the only reason why he is there.
On the other hand, the Pakistanis did look like they were in a good rhythm with
the ball till Shahid Afridi was carted all over the place by the opposition.
A couple of strange moves in the bowling by the captain then set the cat amongst
the pigeons and the side was 0-1 down. They will continue with the same bowling
attack but the Pakistanis need to get their act together quickly before things
start to go horribly wrong again.
South Africa had a good time with the ball but will be worried about the manner
in which they bowled the no-balls and wides. The Morkel brothers struggled with
the control but one get the sense that it is Morne Morkel who needs to
be given the new ball along with Tsotsobe.
South Africa could also think of getting back Jacques Kallis or Dale
Steyn for this game which should add to the incision and make things more difficult
for the side. The batting needs to be strengthened because of the presence of
two youngsters at the numbers four and five - Miller and Ingram.
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