Venue: SuperSport Park, Centurion
Date: 16 April 2021
BetXchange Odds:
- South Africa – 1.35
- Pakistan – 0.60
Form
Pakistan goes into the final T20 as firm favourites following their highly impressive nine wickets victory over South Africa in the third mach on Wednesday at SuperSport Park where captain Babar Azam scored a sensational century.
Babar oozed class and panache as he pummeled his first T20 century of 122 off just 49 balls which included 15 boundaries and four sixes as Pakistan comprehensively smashed South Africa with twelve balls to spare.
Babar was supported by opening partner Mohammad Rizwan (73) for company who continued to impress on this South African tour where he has been a consistent thorn and the openers put together a match wining partnership of 197 off 107.
For South Africa, half centuries by openers Aiden Markram and Janneman Malan were in vain as Babar and Rizwan had the final say.
South Africa
Stand-in Proteas captain Heinrich Klaasen admitted after the match that they did not have answers to the questions that were asked by Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan who made good balls look ordinary during their time on the crease.
Though they lost by nine wickets, South Africa started the match with half centuries from Aiden Markram and Janneman Malan which contributed to a score of 203 meaning that Pakistan had to chase a record score to win which is what they eventually did.
Markram and Malan put together a partnership of 108 off 65 and Rassie van der Dussen and George Linde were the next best scorers with scores of 34 and 22 respectively but it was not enough as Pakistan romped to victory.
Pakistan
Their confidence will be sky high going into the final match in Centurion on Friday with key batters Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali and Asif Ali enjoying a good run of form.
They have not only been impressive with the bat as the likes of Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf have shown ability to take wickets on unfamiliar South African conditions.
Their nine wickets win over the Proteas on Wednesday was a dominant all round performance and they will be intent on reproducing a similar performance to leave the country with both the ODI and T20 series wins.
Best Bets
The odds are heavily stacked against the largely inexperienced South Africa in the fourth and final match in Pretoria where they have to win to at least level the series as Pakistan lead 2-1 after three matches. A win for Pakistan will see them win the series and embarrass the Proteas in their own backyard as they have already won the ODI series.
