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LAHORE: Saim Ayub’s sparkling half-century and a clinical bowling performance helped Pakistan rout South Africa in the second T20I here under lights at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.
Pakistan chased down a mere 111-run target in only 13.1 overs on the loss of just one wicket.
Saim Ayub starred with the bat, scoring a brisk 71* off just 38 balls. The southpaw hit five sixes and half a dozen fours in his knock.
In pursuit of the target, Sahizbada Farhan and Saim Ayub provided a 54-run start in only 6.4 overs. Farhan departed after hitting three sixes in his 28 from 23 balls.
Following the wicket, Babar Azam arrived at the crease in front of his home crowd and opened his account with an elegant cover drive. On the contrary, Saim continued on his merry way and reached his half-century.
On the first ball of the 11th over, Babar reached a major T20I milestone and surpassed Rohit Sharma to become the highest run scorer in T20Is.
He remained unbeaten with 11* from 18 balls, and Saim finished the match with a six to level the three-match series 1-1.
For South Africa, there was nothing much in the bowling like batting as Corbin Bosch remained the solitary wicket taker.
Earlier, Salman Mirza’s devastating three-wicket spell, coupled with Faheem Ashraf’s four-wicket haul, helped Pakistan skittle South Africa for a modest total.
Put into bat first, South Africa were bowled out for a mere 110 in 19.2 overs.
Replacing Shaheen Afridi in the lineup, Salman Mirza wreaked havoc with the new ball and tore through South Africa’s top order. The left-armer knocked out the previous match’s half-century Reeza Hendricks for a duck on the second ball of the match.
Naseem Shah from the other end also supported him well and removed Quinton de Kock for seven. As a result, the visitors were reduced to 12-2 in two overs.
Salman continued with his outstanding bowling and sent back Tony de Zorzi (7), in the third over and Matthew Breetzke (5) in the fourth to leave the Proteas reeling at 23-4.
The early wickets never allowed South Africa to recover, despite a brief counterattack from top scorer Dewald Brevis. He made 25 from 16 before getting caught on Faheem Ashraf’s bowling. The right-hander hit three sixes in his eye-catching knock.
The right-hander remained the only silver lining in a shambolic batting display, which folded their innings before 20 overs.
Salman Mirza returned with excellent figures of 3-14 in four overs, while Faheem Ashraf, who did not bowl in the opening match, scalped four wickets in 3.2 overs while giving away 23.
South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira (c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman, Lungi Ngidi
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Agha(c), Usman Khan(w), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Salman Mirza, Abrar Ahmed
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