CENTURION: When Pakistan plays South Africa in the second Twenty20 International at Centurion on Friday, it will be a game of life or death.
Pakistan will undoubtedly draw some confidence from their most recent South Africa tour in 2021, when the Green-shirts won the T20 series 3-1, despite their inability to chase 184 in the opening Twenty20 match at Kingsmead. In Centurion, two of these victories occurred.
The Mohammad Rizwan-led tourists will need to improve in every area at the SuperSport Park if they hope to salvage the three-game series after losing the series opener by 11 runs in Durban.
With 12 victories for Pakistan and 11 for South Africa, the two teams’ overall head-to-head T20 record is fairly evenly split.
Haris Rauf, a fast bowler for Pakistan, stated that the tourists wanted to resume their winning ways in the second Twenty20 match.
In this series, it’s a pivotal game for us. When we last toured [in 2021], this location [SuperSport Park] generated high-scoring games. At a press conference in Centurion on Thursday, Haris told reporters, “We will try to win the match [to stay in the series].”
The team would learn from their mistakes in the first game of the series, the pacer stated.
“We committed some errors in the last game. He said, “The team has talked about all of these errors, and we will try [not to repeat] and win tomorrow’s game.”
“As a bowling unit, we will attempt to limit the opposition to a lower total, as this venue [Supersport Park] typically produces high-scoring affairs.”
In response to a query about the team’s strengths following their defeat in the opening Twenty20 match, the bowler stated that Pakistan found it encouraging that young players were included in the lineup.
We did our best to win the first Twenty20 match, but we were unable to do so. The good news is that our club’s young players are getting opportunities and performing, which is crucial for the squad,” he said, adding that the players were sure they would give it their all to win Friday’s match.
In response to a question, Haris, who was named the November ICC player of the month, stated that the team wanted to perform better.
He declared, “We will attempt to perform as well in this series as we did in 2021 [in the T20 series].”
The three-match ODI series and two-Test rubber between the two countries will come after Saturday’s third Twenty20 match in Johannesburg.
