South Africa (SA) will play against Pakistan (PAK) in the first T20I of the three match series at Kingsmead in Durban, South Africa. This match will be played on December 10 at 9:30 PM IST. After their Test series against Sri Lanka, the action for South Africa shifts a longer format in ODIs. They will be looking to start of the series on a winning note and take an early advantage.
On the other hand, Pakistan will be keen on carrying their momentum from the Zimbabwe series. Mohammad Rizwan will be back leading the team and they will look to win the game to gain an early advantage in the series.
Only three players may be common and out of those only one in the playing XI but that doesn’t change the fact that South Africa after finishing the Test series against Sri Lanka, will be quick into their work in the three-match T20 series against Pakistan, a little over 36 hours later. With the Champions Trophy approaching and the World Test Championship final being the talk of the town, the T20 series might not hold much significance but both teams have a point to prove in their respective capacity.
SA vs PAK : Previous Performances
South Africa lost to India 3-1 last month while Pakistan with their full-strength side lost to Australia 3-0. Pakistan had their high-profile names rested for the Zimbabwe T20Is but since the likes of Babar Azam and skipper Mohammad Rizwan are back, the visitors will be keen to get the ball rolling first up.
South Africa (SA) will take on Pakistan (PAK) in the first T20I at the Kingsmead in Durban on December 10. After winning the Test series against Sri Lanka by 2-0, the hosts will look towards the white-ball series. On the other hand, Pakistan are coming off a T20I series win against Zimbabwe by 2-1 and they even won the ODI series by the same margin.
The change in leadership seems to have been working for Pakistan as Mohammed Rizwan led them to their first series win in Australia after over 20 years. On the other hand, South Africa recently lost the four-match T20I series against India by 3-1 and the Proteas would like to get back to winning ways against another subcontinent team with Heinrich Klaasen leading the side
SA vs PAK : Head to Head
These two teams have competed in 22 T20Is so far. Pakistan have a slight edge as they have won 12 games, compared to 10 wins for South Africa.
| Matches Played | 22 |
| Won by South Africa | 10 |
| Won by Pakistan | 12 |
| Tied | 00 |
| No Result | 00 |
| First-ever Fixture | February 2, 2007 |
| Most-recent Fixture | November 3, 2022 |
SA vs PAK : Pitch Report
The Kingsmead is a high-scoring ground. The pacers will get good bounce from the wicket and batters can time their shots well. With bounce, there’s also pace and the bowlers can rely on varying the same. On the weather front, the skies will be cloudy with a 50 per cent chance of rain during the game.
Kingsmead offers a batting-friendly surface with true pace and bounce, making it ideal for stroke-makers. Historically, the venue has hosted high-scoring T20 matches, and this game is expected to be no different. While pacers may find some assistance with back-of-a-length deliveries, spinners could play a key role in the middle overs. Both teams are likely to opt for chasing if they win the toss, given the pitch’s reputation for favoring second innings.
The pitch at the Kingsmead has a true pace and bounce which makes it easy for the batters to play their strokes freely. The venue is generally known for high scoring T20 clashes and we can expect the same in this match. As for the bowlers, they need to hit the back of a length consistently to be successful on the track.
As reported by AccuWeather, the weather at Durban is expected to be very humid and thickening clouds. The highest temperature will be around 24°C. Cloudy skies are expected in Durban with a 25% chance of rain that might disrupt play intermittently. The temperature is forecasted to be around 21°C with high humidity levels at 79% and wind speeds of 21 kmph. Despite these challenges, the match is expected to proceed as planned.
SA vs PAK : Big Picture : South Africa and Pakistan clash in white ball a preparation for all important Champions Trophy 2025
Few experiences are as universal as the meaningless preamble you have to sit through before the real event begins. It’s unmistakable in the opening ceremony before the start of a T20 league, a blend of unchallenging pop music and the dazzle of fireworks that, while promising to be different, look like just about every fireworks show there has ever been.
Perhaps it’s a family member determined to bring you up to speed with the finest details of an increasingly boring event as you curse yourself for asking a question that couldn’t be answered with a simple yes or no. Maybe it’s even this article, which you have probably already scrolled down a few times to work out what the point is.
It’s hard to say, really. South Africa play Pakistan in a three-match T20I series starting Tuesday, and it’s impossible to talk about that in any meaningful way. They have just wrapped up an enthralling Test match win against Sri Lanka in Gqeberha to keep a berth in the WTC final on track.
There is no T20 World Cup until 2026, and none of the players part of the Test squad will be available for the first T20I, which is in Durban. The squad, captained by Heinrich Klaasen, underwent a training camp in Pretoria before leaving for Durban on Sunday. The team’s attention and the fans’ emotional investment are very much attached to the red-ball side for now; this is just a series they must sit patiently through.
Pakistan’s choose-your-own-adventure style white-ball team now finds itself pitched up in South Africa, having played six such games in Australia, and another six in Zimbabwe.
If the team management’s views are anything to go by, you can read a lot into the ODI series in Australia that they won, and definitely nothing into the T20I series, which they didn’t. T20Is, as head coach Aqib Javed, who took over partway through the tour of Australia, said, were being treated experimentally for now. So when Pakistan beat Zimbabwe in both ODI and T20I series, and yet dropped a game in each format along the way, no one seems to be any wiser about whether that was a good or bad overall result.
And that will not change whatever happens over the next week. Pakistan’s focus, too, is less on this format than any of the others, given they are in the middle of their busiest Test season this century, and official hosts of the Champions Trophy in just over two months.
They have brought back some of the big names they rested during the tour of Zimbabwe, with captain Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi all returning. Opening batter Saim Ayub and left-arm wrist spinner Sufiyan Muqeem, the brightest spark in Zimbabwe, will be intriguing to watch against stiffer opposition, but really, Pakistan, too, await the Test series to come, or at the very least the ODIs the week after.
And the jury’s out on the extent to which South Africa can be called stiffer opposition, anyway. Aside from Klaasen, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi, it’s not clear any of the other names in that squad would get into a full-strength XI; those are the only five in the squad who played the T20 World Cup final earlier this year.
The bilateral white-ball game’s struggle for relevance can also be exemplified by highlighting that if those kinds of fixtures were anything to go by, South Africa have had a horror T20I year. They haven’t won a single bilateral series in the format, whitewashed twice by West Indies, drawing 1-1 against Ireland, and soundly beaten at home by a second-string India side while the high-profile players were in Australia for the Tests.
But all of that feels irrelevant to the point of not being worth discussing. Not only have they been unable to field full-strength sides for most of those fixtures, but when they did, they found themselves within a Suryakumar Yadav shoe size of winning the T20 World Cup, and no bilateral series will change that.
Bilateral results are a truer depiction of Pakistan’s standing in the format, largely because the T20 World Cup reflected it, too. They have won two T20I series, but they have come against Ireland and Zimbabwe – and Pakistan dropped a game in each.
They kicked off the year with a 4-1 reverse against New Zealand which turned out to be the only series Afridi captained in, before drawing 2-2 at home against the same opposition, when New Zealand’s best players were at the IPL, and being thrashed 2-0 by England in May, and 3-0 to Australia last month. Rounding it all off was an ignominious World Cup exit at the first hurdle, where they lost to India and, famously, to USA.
But if one of bilateral series’ biggest woes is a lack of context, there is some to be had from not too long ago. It feels surreal to think of it now, but during the late 2010s when there was half a decade between two T20 World Cups, Pakistan were the best side in the world, and it wasn’t all that close. That could be determined almost entirely through bilateral series, and Pakistan won 11 of them on the spin; they are still the only side to have managed that.
It was in early 2019 that run ground to a halt in a classic series in this country, where South Africa eked out a 2-1 result. Pakistan are far from that T20I side, but perhaps the seeds of this managed decline were sown right there. And if they can look back at this series as the point where they reversed that unhappy slide, well, then this is one preamble that might have been worth it after all.
SA vs PAK : Team News
South Africa :
South Africa has rested several first-choice players who participated in the Test Series against Sri Lanka, including T20I captain Aiden Markram. Heinrich Klaasen will captain the hosts in the T20I series. David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen, and some other prominent players will compete for the Proteas in the T20Is.
South Africa Predicted XI: Reeza Hendricks, Matthew Breetzke, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen (c & wk.), David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, Patrick Kruger, George Linde, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Ottniel Baartman
Pakistan :
Pakistan had their high-profile names rested for the Zimbabwe T20Is but since the likes of Babar Azam and skipper Mohammad Rizwan are back, the visitors will be keen to get the ball rolling first up.
South Africa being without a few of their first-choice players, should provide another opportunity for Pakistan to have an early crack at the Proteas, however, the 2022 T20 World Cup finalists will have to get over their slow starts issue. Pakistan has recalled Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi for this series, and this will enhance the excitement around the forthcoming T20Is.
Pakistan Predicted XI: Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk.), Usman Khan, Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem
SA vs PAK Fantasy XI : Heinrich Klaasen(C), Mohammad Rizwan, David Miller, Reeza Hendricks, Babar Azam, Rassie van der Dussen, Saim Ayub(VC), Anrich Nortje, Sufiyan Muqeem, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi
SA vs PAK : Probable Top Performers from SA vs PAK
Probable Best Batter: Heinrich Klaasen
Heinrich Klaasen will be key to South Africa’s batting lineup. He is the power hitter and can change the momentum of the game at will. The middle-order batting has been the issue for Proteas of late and he can manage the innings given he is on song.
Probable Best Bowler: Haris Rauf
Haris Rauf has found his rhythm back and he looked well in Australia. The fact that he is among the wickets is a welcoming aspect of the team. The pacy wicket in South Africa will aid the bowler’s cause and he would like to make the most of it.
SA vs PAK : Match Prediction
Despite not having the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj, South Africa are the firm favourites. Pakistan have an inexperienced batting unit. We back South Africa to win the first T20I but Pakistan with potent pace attack could possess a threat to Proteas.
Scenario 1
South Africa win the toss and opt to bat first
PP Score: 50-60
SA: 180-200
South Africa to win the match
Scenario 2
Pakistan win the toss and opt to bat first
PP Score: 40-50
PAK: 170-190
Pakistan to win the match