Despite two series losses, Pakistan yet hopes to end its South Africa Tour with gratification as it will now take on the Host in the format, in which it has been invincible since September 2016.
Pakistan will play its first T20I of three-match series against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on Friday.
Both sides have previously played just one T20I at Cape Town on November 22, 2013. Pakistan emerged victorious in that match by six wickets.
In terms of bilateral engagements in T20 Internationals, South Africa has a slight dominance over Pakistan. Out of 11 T20I between them, South Africa won six while Pakistan bagged five victories.
However considering the overall performance in recent years, Pakistan stands far ahead to South Africa.
پاکستان،جنوبی افریقہ ٹی ٹونٹی سیریز۔۔۔ تین میچز کی سیریز کا پہلا میچ آج کیپ ٹاؤن میں کھیلا جارہاہے۔۔۔میچ رات نو بجے شروع ہوگا۔قومی ٹیم کی قیادت شعیب ملک کریں گے ۔ pic.twitter.com/PSAEmHclwz
— PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) February 1, 2019
The top-ranked Pakistan hasn’t lost a T20 series after World T20 held in India in March/April 2016. Since then, Pakistan has won 11 series in a row.
Likewise, Pakistan is currently holding a winning streak of nine T20Is and last year, it lost just two matches out of 19.
Currently Pakistan’s Babar Azam with 54.26 batting average is number one T20 batsman in the world while Fakhar Zaman is at number five. But none of South African batsmen is among top 19 batsmen.
Similarly, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf and Imad Wasim are occupying second, eighth and ninth positions in T20 bowling rankings. South Africa’s Imran Tahir is at 10th position. Besides him, Chris Morris of South Africa is ranked at number 28.
In the first T20I, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Sahibzada Farhan – none of these played fourth and fifth ODIs against South Africa – may feature for Pakistan.
