Mohammad Rizwan‘s reign as Pakistan’s ODI skipper continued to impress, with the men in green now winning an away ODI series against South Africa, having achieved the same feat against Australia in Australia not too long ago.
The visitors outplayed South Africa, and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series.
On that note, here are three reasons behind Pakistan’s fabulous victory over South Africa in the second ODI:
1) A typical Babar Azam-Mohammad Rizwan stand
After a pretty long time, it was a typical Babar Azam-Mohammad Rizwan partnership that bailed Pakistan out of trouble. The duo added 115 runs for the third wicket, laying down the platform for a quick finish.
There have been questions regarding the form of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. However, the duo proved that although they might not be the best choices for the T20 format, yet ODIs continue to be their biggest strength.
The format seems to suit their style of batting because in this format, even if a team scores at three or four runs per over for a good 20 or 25 overs, there is still some room to cover up and reach a total to the north of 300.
Babar Azam looked in sublime touch, playing some cracking drives through the off side. Mohammad Rizwan also looked untroubled, putting away those misdirected short deliveries to the boundary. He also brought out his favorite slog-sweep and cleared the ropes thrice in his knock.
2) Fireworks from Kamran Ghulam down the order
When Kamran Ghulam walked in, Pakistan had 192 runs on the board with only 14 overs remaining in the innings.
The pitch did not seem to have any demons in it and so, if Mohammad Rizwan’s men were to put up a challenging total against a very dangerous looking South African batting lineup, they needed someone down the order to up the ante.
Kamran Ghulam did exactly that. He came out all guns blazing. The right-handed batter cleared the ropes five times and hit four fours in his blistering knock of 63, coming off just 32 deliveries.
The intent was there right from the moment he stepped out to bat. He advanced down the track and took on the bowlers.
He also tonked a few maximums in the square-leg region with some mighty heaves across the line. With the Champions Trophy fast approaching, Pakistan would believe that they have found themselves a finisher.
He may not be a natural finisher, but he has shown great adaptability, first with the century he scored on Test debut when he was replacing Babar Azam, then with the ton against Zimbabwe, and now this quickfire knock down the order against a really good South African bowling line up.
Kamran Ghulam has got different gears and he knows how to play to the situation.
3) Bowlers playing their part with a healthy total to defend
It was a combined bowling effort from the Pakistani bowlers, and that must have left Mohammad Rizwan a happy man.
Shaheen Shah Afridi regularly touched the 140 kph mark, and was absolutely lethal with the old ball, delivering one of his best old ball spells in ODI cricket so far. He was getting it to reverse and also bowled some toe-crushing yorkers.
Naseem Shah, who has been off-color for a while, looked in decent rhythm. Haris Rauf produced an economical spell, going at just over four runs per over in his eight overs.
Abrar Ahmed once again impressed with his deceptive mystery spin, and was difficult to pick from the hand.
These are some massive positives for Pakistan ahead of the Champions Trophy, and Mohammad Rizwan’s side appear to have all bases covered ahead of the much anticipated tournament.
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