South Africa and Pakistan played out a dramatic and entertaining first T20 match on Saturday and they will renew battle on Monday when they once again take to The Wanderers in Johannesburg for the second game of the scheduled four.
Having lost out in that first game, South Africa need to win here to be able to win the series later in the week. Pakistan go into the match knowing they can go two up with two to play and would be in a wonderful position to add the T20s to the ODIs they won last week.
South Africa
To be fair to South Africa, although they lost that opening match I think they maxed out with what they had at their disposal. They just weren’t good enough without the players they have missing. You get the feeling that they are only going to win matches in this series if Pakistan have one of their tizzes with the bat or if they get the opportunity to chase down a target that is set, although that should be the default tactic here anyway so it was a bit of a surprise they chose to bat in the first game.
The other thing that they could do is maybe look to get some overs out of a part timer at certain times of their bowling innings so that they can have their best options available to them at the death where if they did let themselves down at any stage of that first game it might have been there. There are still one or two players that could come in and make them a little bit stronger but overall they need a repeat of that first game and hope it is enough.
Pakistan
There was a lot to like about Pakistan in that opening match and there is no doubt in my mind that there is more to come from them even though they won the game. I don’t think these conditions in Johannesburg suit them particularly well. The lengths they bowl with the ball sits up to be hit and their batsmen have to attack the ropes which doesn’t necessarily come naturally to all of them. The fact they were challenged and got over the line was certainly no bad thing.
I think Pakistan will be disappointed with their bowling effort in that opening game. It wasn’t terrible but at no stage could they get their lengths right and they allowed South Africa to get away from them. They have played an ODI here and a T20 game now so they should have worked out what is needed and it will be interesting to see if they can put a plan into action. You sense they might need to chase here if there are going to win.
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Team News
South Africa will be dearly hoping that Rassie van der Dussen is fit to take his place in the side for this match as their batting did look a little light on paper in that opening game. Kyle Vereynne could come into the fray too.
Pakistan have a bit of an issue about the best order with the bat. It didn’t really work out last time but with Mohammad Rizwan in such good form he is likely to remain as an opener. Mohammad Hasnain will be pushing for a spot with the ball.
Betting
I’m expecting another high scoring game here because I expect South Africa to bring at least one more batsman into their side whereas Pakistan look loaded with the bat. The conditions and dimensions of this ground are such that the batsmen are favoured anyway and we have seen that both in the ODI that was played here as well as that T20 on Saturday. It is a small ground with a pretty quick outfield and a pitch full of pace and bounce.
The boundaries line for this match is on the higher end of where I’m happy to be involved at 43.5 but to be fair I always add two or three at places like here and Bangalore where altitude and a small ground merit adding that total. We actually got 53 boundaries here in the first game and the likes of Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez never really got going so there could be even more to come naturally. I like the over here.
Tips
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