Throw South Africa chose to bat vs Pakistan
Pakistan was asked to hunt in what is a knockout match against South Africa in the Tri series, with the winner set to play New Zealand in Saturday’s final. Both teams have already lost against New Zealand and have made changes to strengthening their teams, especially on the batting front.
Saud Shakeel, who last played an odor for Pakistan in November 2023, has been brought into the team in place of Kamran Ghulam and will turn on No. 3. Their second switch was forced by an injury, with Haris Rauf out with a side stem and Mohammad Hasnain included in his place.
South Africa has begun to show glimpses of their Champions Trophy thinking with their choices. They moved Matthew Breetzke, who scored 150 on his debut two days ago, but are not in the Champions Trophy team down to No. 3 and made room for Tony de Zorzi to collaborate with Temba Bavuma at the top.
Heinrich Klaasen entered the team instead of Jason Smith and took the Wicketkeeping gloves from Kyle Verreynne, holding his place as dough.
The other two changes are in the bowling department, where Corbin Bosch and Keshav Maharaj replace Mihlali Mpongwana and Junior Dala respectively. Lungi Ngidi, who only bowled seven overs in the series opener, will play another consecutive match in what suggests a promising return to fitness.
The series has moved to Karachi after the first two matches were played in Lahore and the surface could be a little more challenging to hit. Both sides are heavy on spin options in anticipation of some stickiness and turning.
Pakistan: 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Babar Azam, 3 Saud Shakeel, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (Capt), 5 Salman Agha, 6 Tayyab Tahir, 7 Khusdil Shah, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Mohammed Hasnain, 10 Nassem Shah 11 Abrar Ahmed
South Africa: 1 Temba Bavuma (Capt) 2 Tony de Zorzi, 3 Matthew Breetzke, 4 Kyle Verreynne 5 Heinrich Klaasen (WK), 6 Wiaan Mulder, 7 Senuran Muthusamy 8 Corbin Bosch, 9 Keshav Maharaj 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi
