It was a strange clash that a team that won the game wouldn't be happy with their performance and the one that came second won't be too disheartened as they eventually got really close. South Africa won the series opener in Durban by 11 runs riding on David Miller's whirlwind knock and returning George Linde's all-round show. Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan's slow half-century didn't help Pakistan's cause as he left too much to cover up in the end.
An improved batting show, especially from the top order will be on Pakistan's priority list as 184 wasn't a huge score, especially after the Miller blitzkrieg. The comeback from the bowlers helped Pakistan stop South Africa from posting a 210-220 total and hence the failure to chase that total down despite a set batter playing for almost 20 overs will sting the visitors.
A couple of days later, Pakistan now have the opportunity to level the series and stay alive in the three-match assignment. South Africa too would want a few runs from their top order of Breetzke, Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen as the trio flopped and with Anrich Nortje ruled out of the series, the likes of Simelane and Ottneil Baartman will have to do the heavy lifting in the pace department. Pakistan can challenge this Proteas side but can't make silly mistakes.
My Dream11 team for SA vs PAK 2nd T20I
Matthew Breetzke, Mohammad Rizwan, Heinrich Klaasen (c), David Miller, Babar Azam, Usman Khan, Patrick Kruger, Anrich Nortje, George Linde (vc), Haris Rauf, Saim Ayub
Probable Playing XIs
South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Matthew Breetzke, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen(w/c), Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Andile Simelane, Nqabayomzi Peter, Kwena Maphaka, Ottneil Baartman
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Tayyab Tahir, Shaheen Afridi, Irfan Khan, Abbas Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
