World Cup 2015: Pakistan Edge Past South Africa in a Thriller, Keep Knockout Hopes Alive

In a rain-curtailed World Cup match, South Africa faltered repeatedly chasing a revised target of 232 in 47 overs. Pakistan eventually managed to seal the match by 29 runs in what was a nail-biting ODI contest
Auckland: Pakistan's trio of left-arm
pacemen bowled their team to a thrilling 29-run win over South Africa on
the Duckworth/Lewis method as they revived their bid for a World Cup
quarter-final place in Auckland on Saturday. (Scorecard | Highlights)
Rahat
Ali grabbed a career-best three for 40, while Mohammad Irfan (three for
52) and Wahab Riaz (three for 45) were also in the wickets as South
Africa, chasing a revised target of 232 in 47 overs, were dismissed for
202 in 33.3 overs. (Points Table)
South
Africa captain AB de Villiers hit a brilliant 58-ball 77 with five
sixes and seven boundaries but failed to stop Pakistan from registering
their third
win in five matches -- and their first victory over the
Proteas in all World Cups.
Pakistan were all out in 46.4 overs
after two rain interruptions which reduced the match to 47-over-a-side.
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq scored 56 while Sarfraz Ahmed made run-a-ball 49.
De
Villiers, who completed 1000 World Cup runs, was dismissed by Sohail
Khan in the 33rd over for wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed's sixth catch in
the match -- equalling the world record for most catches behind the
stumps in a one-day international.
South Africa were off to a disastrous start as opener Quinton de Kock was dismissed in Irfan's first over of the innings.
Hashim
Amla, who hit nine boundaries in his 38, steadied the innings during
his 67-run second wicket stand with Faf du Plessis before Pakistan hit
back.
Ali removed Du Plessis and David Miller (nought) while Riaz
dismissed Amla and Rilee Rossouw (six) as South Africa lost four wickets
for just 10 runs in the space of 39 balls.
Irfan returned for his
second spell to dismiss JP Duminy for 12 as South Africa, who would
have been in the quarter-finals had they won this match, were left
reeling at 102 for six.
De Villiers took the fight to the
Pakistani bowlers adding 36 with Dale Steyn (16) and another invaluable
33 for the eighth with Kyle Abbott who made 12.
He hit two sixes in one Shahid Afridi over to reach his fifty off just 45 balls before Pakistan staged a late comeback.
It
was Misbah who steadied Pakistan's innings with a determined 86-ball
knock -- his fourth half-century in five World Cup matches.
The Pakistan captain also completed 5,000 one-day international runs when on seven in his 160th match. (Read more here)
He was the 12th Pakistani to reach the landmark but the first from any country to do so without scoring an individual hundred.
Misbah hit four boundaries before he holed out at third man off fast bowler Steyn who finished with three for 30.
Afridi made a 15-ball 22 with two sixes and a boundary as he went to 8,000 ODI runs.
Ahmed
put on a confident 30-run opening stand with Ahmed Shehzad (18) -- the
best opening stand for Pakistan in this tournament -- before Steyn held a
smart diving catch to give South Africa the breakthrough.
Shehzad hit Abbott towards long-on where Steyn, on the run, held a low chance.
Ahmed,
who did not play in Pakistan's first four pool matches, hit three sixes
in one Duminy over before he ran himself out while taking a second run
in a bid to reach his fifty.
He also hit five boundaries in his run-a-ball knock.
Younis
Khan, dropped after poor run of scores in the first three matches, made
an attractive 44-ball 37 with four boundaries before falling to soft
dismissal off the part-time bowling of de Villiers.
But South
Africa's lack of a genuine fifth bowler proved costly, with de Villiers
and Duminy conceding 77 runs between them in a combined nine overs.
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