Related Links : South Africa in Pakistan 2007/08 : Scorecard
Pakistan have taken a 2-1 lead in their 5-match series against SA with a 6-wicket win in the 3rd ODI at Faisalabad. Shahid Afridi was instrumental in Pak’s win with an effective spell with the ball that was followed up with a blazing opening start that made things very easy for the remaining batsmen to chase down a moderate target of 198.
Mohammad Yousuf carried the chase forward with a patient unbeaten 58 that took him 113 balls but was just enough to see his side home with 11 balls to spare. He once again had a good partnership with his skipper Shoaib Malik, who made 42. Yousuf’s innings was more of hard work than dazzling strokeplay with the right hander finding the ropes only once in his 113-ball innings. Earlier, Pak got off to a quick start from Shahid Afridi (32 in 18 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes). Pakistan had gone with a new opening pair of Afridi along with Yasir Hameed, who scratched around making 18 in 46 balls. There was a good innings towards the end from Misbah-ul-Haq (29 not out in 32 balls with 2 fours and a six) which formed an unbeaten partnership of 55 with Yousuf. South Africa’s best bowler was Albie Morkel with 2 for 30 along with a couple of maidens in 9.1 overs.
Earlier in the afternoon, SA batted first after winning the toss and could never really get going in their innings. The Pakistanis kept on taking the wickets to hamper the progress of the batting side. None of the settled batsmen from the Proteas could kick on to make a big score. Graeme Smith (48 from 68 with 5 fours) and Justin Kemp (42 from 74 with 2 sixes) were the only significant contributors for the visitors. For Pakistan, Shahid Afridi (10-0-37-3) and Iftikhar Anjum (8-0-33-3) did the wicket-taking job for their skipper. Umar Gul led the attack well with 2 for 25 in 8.2 overs which also included three maidens! Afridi was the one walking away with the Man of the Match for removing Kallis, Kemp and Pollock along with his cameo with the bat.