PAK vs SA, 3rd ODI, Faisalabad : Pakistan beat South Africa by 6 wickets
Oct 24, 2007
Pakistan produced disciplined cricket to upstage South Africa by six wickets in the third One-Day International here today, to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Rao Iftikhar came up with a career-best performance and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi took thee wickets to restrict the tourists to 197. Mohammed Yousuf then hit an unbeaten snail-paced 58 off 113 balls to help Pakistan overcome the target for four in 48.1 overs.
Yousuf added an invaluable 79 runs for the fourth wicket with captain Shoaib Malik to set up the victory. Yousuf hit just one boundary in his 104-ball half-century but stayed until the victory was achieved.
It followed a contrasting cameo by Afridi who enthralled a packed 16,000 crowd at Iqbal Stadium with a quickfire 32. Afridi gave Pakistan a fiery start as he hit two sixes and four boundaries in his 18-ball knock before Pakistan lost three quick wickets.
Afridi's ferocious shot off Shaun Pollock was well held at mid-off by Smith before Yasir Hameed fell to Makhaya Ntini and Younis Khan was caught behind off Albie Morkel.
Morkel also broke the Malik-Yousuf stand but with only 51 needed for victory it was too late as Misbah-ul Haq helped Yousuf to complete the formality.
Earlier, Iftikhar shared six wickets between them to derail South Africa, which won the toss and decided to bat on a pitch with variable bounce and slow turn. Afridi dismissed Jacques Kallis, Justin Kemp and Shaun Pollock to trigger a middle-order slump from which they could not recover.
South Africa, reduced to 77-3 in 20 overs, was lifted by captain Graeme Smith (48) and Kemp, who shared a fourth-wicket
stand of 45 off 75 balls but they never looked in command.
Herschelle Gibbs, who scored a century in the first match, fell in the ninth over when he edged Umar Gul to wicketkeeper after scoring 19.
Gibbs, on ten, completed 7,000 runs, to become only the second South African behind Kallis to achieve them South Africa, reduced to 77 for three in 20 overs, was lifted by captain Graeme Smith and Kemp, who shared a fourth-wicket stand of 45 off 75 balls but they never looked in command.
Herschelle Gibbs, who scored a century in the first match, fell in the ninth over when he edged Umar Gul to wicketkeeper after scoring 19. Gibbs become only the second South African behind Kallis to achieve scored.
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