Pakistan Vs South Africa, 3rd T20I Match Report: Babar Azam Fifty Steers PAK To Four-Wicket Win Over SA

Babar Azam made a triumphant return to T20 cricket with his 37th half century and led Pakistan to a series-clinching four-wicket victory against South Africa in the third and final game on Saturday.

Pakistan rode Babar’s 68 off 46 balls to reach 140-6 in 19 overs. South Africa fell short for the second successive match and was restricted to 139-9 after losing a third successive toss in the series and being asked to bat first.

An inexperienced South Africa won the opening game by 55 runs at Rawalpindi before Pakistan made a strong comeback with back-to-back comprehensive wins at Lahore to clinch the series 2-1.

Babar controlled the chase well after left-handed opener Saim Ayub was out for his fifth duck in his last 10 T20 innings.

Babar started off cautiously against the left-arm spin of George Linde, but grew in confidence against the pace with bowlers finding it difficult to hit the right lengths with the wet ball because of heavy dew.

He shared a match-winning 76-run stand with captain Salman Ali Agha (33) as South Africa struggled to get the breakthrough.

Babar brought the capacity crowd of over 32,000 on their feet at the Gaddafi Stadium when he reached his fifty with three successive boundaries against fast bowler Ottneil Baartman as Pakistan’s premier batter pushed the scoring rate with his skillful shots on both sides of the wicket.

Pakistan had a minor collapse and lost four wickets for 14 runs with Agha chipping an easy catch in the covers and Babar departing when only 15 runs were required for victory as he pulled Bosch’s short ball to Reeza Hendricks at deep backward square leg.

Lizaad Williams (2-26) and Andile Simelane (1-23), two of the three changes South Africa made from the team that lost the second game, picked up late wickets but by that time Babar’s knock had sealed the game in Pakistan’s favor.

Pakistan Vs South Africa, 3rd T20I Live Score

Pakistan and South Africa now play a three-match ODI series in Faisalabad, starting Tuesday.

Pakistan Vs South Africa, 3rd T20I: Ball-By-Ball Commentary

Pakistan Vs South Africa, 3rd T20I: Toss Update And Playing XIs

Pakistan have won the toss and have opted to bowl first against South Africa.

Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Agha(c), Usman Khan(w), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq

South Africa (Playing XI): Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock(w), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira(c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Andile Simelane, Lizaad Williams, Ottneil Baartman

Pakistan Vs South Africa, 3rd T20I: Live Streaming

The T20I between Pakistan and South Africa will not be broadcast live on any television channel in India. However, fans can catch the live streaming of the match on the Sports TV YouTube channel.

(With AP inputs)