Another classic showdown has ended on a thrilling note. On October 27, South Africa met Pakistan at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. This was a pure thriller. Suspense was there almost in every ball. South Africa was again outstanding and the hard luck continues for Pakistan. South African squad dominated the whole match. Pakistan tried well but their opponent grabbed the match. Tarbraiz Shamsi for the South African side won the player of the match.
South Africa’s Brilliance:
South Africa is one of the strongest teams in this edition of the World Cup. They started the tournament with a huge record. In the first match, they registered the highest World Cup total. In the tournament, South Africa faced only one defeat against the Netherlands till now. In the match against Pakistan, South Africa bowled in the first innings.
While batting first, Pakistan didn’t have a good start. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq got out quickly. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam scored 50 runs in 65 balls. Saud Shakeel also scored a half-century. Shadab Khan missed a half-century by just 7 runs. He got out on 43 runs. Pakistan got all-out on 270 runs.
In the second innings, South Africa gave a decent start. Aiden Markram played an amazing innings. He scored 91 runs in 93 balls. He smashed 7 boundaries and 3 over-boundaries. David Miller scored 29 and was dismissed by Shaheen Afridi. They registered a narrow win of 1 wicket against Pakistan.
Shamsi’s magic:
South African bowlers were exceptionally well. Marco Jansen took 3 wickets in 43 balls. Gerald Coetzee took 2 wickets in 42 runs. Tabraiz Shamsi was the star of the show. He took 4 wickets in 60 runs. He got a huge wicket of Babar Azam at the very first. Iftikhar Ahmed was his second wicket. Saud Shakeel was Shamsi’s third wicket. Lastly, he took Shaheen Afridi’s wicket. Because of this exceptional performance, he was awarded the Player of the Match.
At the presentation, he said, “ Really happy. I knew I had to do a job there, but the guys before me set it up. Credit goes to those guys too. I’ve played enough cricket to know Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it doesn’t. I didn’t expect to be here with my pads doing this interview.
On the last over, he said, “ If I tried to play a big shot and if it didn’t come off, the boys wouldn’t welcome me back to the change room. So there was no doubt in my mind that I had to just defend and get Kesh on strike. These are the kind of moments you dream of, to be in the middle at the end and win your team a game. Kesh was unbelievable out there.”
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