CENTURION: The Pakistan team management has decided to make a change in their playing XI for the second T20I against South Africa today.
Versatile left-arm bowler Jahandad Khan replaced China’s Sufiyan Muqeem in the second match.
Sufiyan, who played brilliantly in the Zimbabwe T20I series, scored a couple of runs in the first T20I against the Proteas. David Miller took charge of the young spinner who conceded 53 runs in his four overs.
Jahandad made his T20I debut against Australia in Hobart last month. He took one wicket and conceded 17 runs in his three overs on his debut.
So far, the left-arm bowler has taken four wickets in four games.
Pakistan lost the first T20I
George Linde backed up his quickfire 48 with four wickets and guided South Africa to an 11-run victory over Pakistan in the first T20I of the three-match series in Durban.
Chasing a daunting target of 184 runs, the Green Shirts could rack up 172/8 in the allotted 20 overs despite captain Mohammad Rizwan’s half-century.
The touring team had a shaky start to the chase as their star batsman Babar Azam perished for a four-ball duck in the third over with the score reading 16/1.
After the initial hiccup, Saim Ayub put together a one-sided 40-run partnership for the second wicket with Rizwan before falling victim to Andile Simelane in the seventh over.
The left-handed batsman scored 31 off just 15 balls with the help of seven boundaries.
Rizwan, who batted cautiously until the 16th over, finally changed gears and hit Kwena Maphaka for two sixes in the next over.
The right-handed batsman finally came back in the second delivery of the final when he skied a short delivery from Maphaka towards the third man region, where Nqabayomzi Peter caught it easily.
He remained Pakistan’s top scorer with a 62-ball 74, which featured five fours and three sixes.
Maphaka then displayed nerves of steel and conceded just six runs off the remaining four deliveries and led his team to an 11-run victory in the series opener.
For South Africa, Linde took four wickets, followed by Kwena Maphaka with two, while Ottneil Baartman and Simelane took a scalp each.
Opting to bat first, South Africa posted a formidable total of 183/9, courtesy of David Miller’s swashbuckling half-century, followed by Linde’s late fireworks.
