Toss South Africa chose to bat vs Pakistan
Pakistan were asked to chase 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 to New Zealand and have made changes to bolster their teams, especially on the batting front.
Saud Shakeel, who last played an ODI for Pakistan in November 2023, has been brought into the team in place of Kamran Ghulam and will bat at No. 3. Their other switch was forced by injury, with Haris Rauf out with a side strain and
Mohammad Hasnain included in his place.
South Africa have started to show glimpses of their Champions Trophy thinking with their selection. They moved
Matthew Breetzke, who scored 150 on debut two days days ago but is not in the Champions Trophy squad down to No. 3 and made room for
Tony de Zorzi to partner Temba Bavuma at the top.
Heinrich Klaasen came into the team in place of Jason Smith, and took the wicketkeeping gloves from Kyle Verreynne, who keeps his place as a batter.
The other two changes are in the bowling department, with
Corbin Bosch and
Keshav Maharaj replacing Mihlali Mpongwana and Junior Dala respectively. Lungi Ngidi, who only bowled seven overs in the series opener, will play a second successive 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 bat on. Both sides are heavy on spin options in expectation of some tackiness and turn.
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
