Pakistan, trailing 1-2, will have to win today’s game to keep alive their hopes in the ODI series, with the final match to be played on Monday.
South Africa, who won the Twenty20 series comfortably, however, faced tough opposition from Pakistan in the one-day series.
The Proteas won the first one-dayer by eight wickets but Pakistan struck back in the next match, winning it by one wicket. A Hashim Amla century and Morne Morkel’s four wickets helped South Africa clinch the third ODI by two runs.
Pakistan can take heart by the way they played in the last two one-dayers and would be keen for an improved performance before a weekend crowd. “We are delivering in bowling but not in batting and fielding,” captain Shahid Afridi was candid while assessing the reasons for his team’s defeat on Tuesday.
He also indicated changes in the squad for Friday’s match. Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman could replace an out-of-from Saeed Ajmal, who had an ordinary tour so far. He picked up only two wickets from three matches – a poor outcome considering the slow state of wickets here.
South Africans, on the other hand, would be looking to seal the series on Friday itself.
“The wicket is not going to get easier. I think it will be the same strip for the three ODIs,” stand-in skipper Johan Botha told reporters.
South Africa would be pinning their hopes on their batting mainstay Hashim Amla to deliver the goods here. Amla has already amassed 219 runs from three matches with an outstanding average of 109.50.
With Shoaib Akhtar back in form, Pakistan have the wherewithal to contain South Africans, but their batsmen need to adopt a steady approach for a decent score on a wicket, which is likely to produce another low-scoring match.
South Africans would be relying more on their pace attack for breakthroughs. Paceman Dale Steyn bowled in the nets on Thursday. He suffered a head injury while taking a catch in the Champions League held in South Africa last month.
Lonawabo Tsotsobe will be leading the attack as the tall left-arm swing bowler had a successful series so far. He bagged six wickets at an average of 15.66 from three matches. Morne Morkel and Charl Langeveldt are also in good form.
pradeep@khaleejtimes.com
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