PAK vs SA | Pakistan crumble to 139 all-out in chase of 194 as Bosch four-fer takes Proteas 1-0 up

Brief score: SA 194/9 (20) [Hendricks 60(40), Linde 36(22); M Nawaz 3/26(4)] beat PAK 134 (18.1) [Ayub 37(28), M Nawaz 36(20); Bosch 4/14(4)] by 55 runs

Asked to bat first, South Africa got things underway cautiously against the swinging new ball before Quinton de Kock, returning to international cricket after over a year, got things into gear with a boundary off Naseem Shah in the second over. Reeza Hendricks joined the party with a maximum two balls later before the duo combined for three boundaries off Shaheen Afridi to race to 35/0 after three. Quinton added a couple more fours off Ayub but just as the pressure was piling on, the veteran chipped one straight to point to depart for a 13-ball 23. Nevertheless, debutant Tony de Zorzi kept up the momentum with five boundaries within two overs to leave the hosts looking on at 75/1 at the end of the powerplay. The spread of field made no difference as 15 more runs came off the seventh over but Mohammad Nawaz finally ended the 48-run stand by deceiving a charging de Zorzi to have him stumped for 33 off 16. The spinner than castled Dewald Brevis in his next over, only enough to restrict the Proteas to 111/3 at the halfway stage, before Saim Ayub had Matthew Breetzke holed out to loosen South Africa's grip on the game. Nawaz ended his spell by rattling rival skipper Donovan Ferreira's stumps, in a nine-over spell alongside Ayub and Abrar that saw the team concede just 63 in nine overs and take four wickets in the process, the score 152/5 with four overs to go. However, the return of pace with Afridi flicked the switch once again as George Linde smashed him for four fours in an over, before taking on Abrar for a maximum albeit the youngster responded with Hendricks' wicket after an anchoring 40-ball 60. Naseem and Afridi thereafter chipped away at the tail to set themselves a target of 195 in 20 overs.

The chase began with confidence as Sahibzada Farhan took Lungi Ngidi for three fours in his first over, but Ayu struggled to get away at the other leading to a spree of dot balls. The build-up culminated in a rash Farhan slog that missed the ball all hands up as Lizaad Williams struck timber, and brought Babar Azam to the crease for his first T20I innings after being droppe last year. It only lasted two balls before he splayed an innocous Corbin Bosch delivery straight to cover inside the ring, as Pakistan ended the powerplay at 34/2. Captain Salman Agha's struggles with the bat continued too as his seven-ball stay yielded just two runs before being embarassingly pinned LBW by Bosch. Ayub finally found some momentum in the ninth over and struck Linde for back-to-back maximums as he tried to keep the chase alive, and had rushed to 37 off 28 when the part-timer had the last laugh in the 11th over. At this stage, the required run rate had already shot well past 12, and Ngidi hitting top of off to send back Hasan Nawaz only derailed Pakistan's pursuit further. Linde practically sealed proceedings with the wickets of Usman Khan and Faheem Ashraf in the following over, even though Mohammad Nawaz took Ngidi for 15 to suggest otherwise. Like a damp bonfire, Bosch made the flame fickle some more by dispatching Afridi and finished with the wicket of Naseem Shah to leave Pakistan needing a near-imposisible 71 in the last three overs. Nawaz continued fighting nonetheless as a six and four took him to 36 at a strike rate of nearly 200, but Williams finally doused the final spark with his wicket in the 19th over to seal a 55-run triumph.