(ESPN Cricinfo) – Having not played for South Africa for three years, George Linde made up for lost time on one electric Kingsmead evening with a stunning all-round performance.
A 24-ball 48 with the bat and 4-21 with the ball battered a valiant Pakistan, who went down by 11 runs. The umpire even thought he had a hat-trick in the penultimate over before a review denied him that glory but not his undisputed Player-of-the-Match award.
Mohammad Rizwan, who faced the first ball, was there in the final over as his team went down fighting, a late attack from the captain not quite enough to undo the damage of a sluggish first half of an innings where he managed just 36 in his first 44 deliveries, even if he did finish with 74 off 62.
South Africa came into the first T20I in Durban with a decidedly second-string side, but it doesn’t matter when David Miller is in the form he found today. A majestic 40-ball 82 ran through the first innings like a dagger for Pakistan, who believed they had made early progress when Shaheen Shah Afridi and Abrar Ahmed removed Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks, and Matthew Breetzke early.
But Miller ensured the runs kept flowing, and Pakistan’s spinners couldn’t have the impact they hoped for on a true, flat Durban pitch. Heinrich Klaasen had little hesitation in opting to bat first on.
Saim Ayub gave Pakistan a flying start despite the loss of Babar Azam for a duck early on, but South Africa reined them in through the middle overs. Rizwan struggled to get going, and Pakistan’s inexperienced middle order couldn’t keep the asking rate in check from the other end. It allowed South Africa to get tidy overs in through the middle while picking up regular wickets, and all of a sudden Pakistan was running out of batters and overs.
An errant 17th over from the otherwise impressive 18-year-old Kwena Maphaka allowed Pakistan 24 runs, and they suddenly found themselves back in the game. Rizwan was flying by then, smashing two sixes off Maphaka and three fours off Ottneil Baartman, and Pakistan had suddenly dragged themselves back in, needing 19 off the final over.
But Maphaka, who returned for the 20th over, had Rizwan top-edging a slower ball, and the game was over as a contest. Pakistan had paid for their generosity with the ball at the death and tardiness with the bat early on. South Africa was clinical enough to take full advantage.
The Killer Miller Show
David Miller has made a reputation for being a middle- and late-overs bludgeoner. But after Shaheen and Abrar struck early, Miller came in at No. 4 in an inexperienced side. And for the next hour or so, he demonstrated how his timing and technique were every bit equal to his power. Taking advantage of beginning his innings in the powerplay, he whipped Shaheen off the pads to get going, before punching him through the covers for another boundary. The quality of his timing was on full display against Sufiyan Muqeem just after the powerplay. The left-arm wrist-spinner tried to stay out of his arc by bowling wide of off and spinning it away, but Miller’s extension of the arms and strength at the end of his range lay waste to that tactic. He creamed him over the extra-cover boundary, where the fielder could only watch it sail over his head. Muqeem tried it once more two balls later, only to have the same treatment meted out to him with – if it was possible – even less effort.
Miller had just got started and was brutal against spin, slapping Abrar for three straight sixes in the tenth over. He cut across the innings like a scythe for Pakistan; between the time he came on and when Shaheen finally had him caught, he added 82 of South Africa’s 125.
Linde punishes Rizwan’s gamble
Tactics are invariably judged by outcomes rather than thought processes, and Linde ensured Rizwan’s aggressive death-overs gambit cost Pakistan heavily. After Miller fell, and Pakistan followed up with two more quick blows to reduce South Africa to 141 for 8, the Pakistan captain saw an opportunity to bowl South Africa out. Shaheen, Abbas Afridi, and Haris Rauf were bowled out by the 19th over; Pakistan had perhaps hoped South Africa’s innings would be wrapped up by then.
But that didn’t happen, with Linde managing the strike and Maphaka’s odd boundary taking the pressure off them. It left Muqeem to bowl the final over, and when Linde refused a single off the first ball, his intentions were obvious. Muqeem missed his length on almost every one of the last five deliveries; three went for sixes before Linde finally miscued the last ball to cow corner. But South Africa had surged to 183, and Pakistan’s hopes of cleaning them out below par were dead and buried.
Rizbar now, Rizbar forever?
The obituary of the Mohammad Rizwan-Babar Azam opening has been written far too many times to attempt another one. It seemed Pakistan’s days of opening with their two trusty anchors were finally done, but in a steep chase, it was those two who walked out while Saim Ayub sat in the dugout. Both looked rusty and well off the pace required. Babar could have fallen to Maphaka’s first ball and ultimately did off the fourth without scoring.
Ayub came in and demonstrated why he is so potent in the first six, his full repertoire of power, panache, and audacity on display as he blitzed through the remaining powerplay, striking seven boundaries in his first 13 balls to race to 31. He is less effective when the field spreads out and holed out to sweeper cover off the second ball he faced post-powerplay. He had got Pakistan off to a flyer, though, and left one wondering how much he could have added had he been around from the very start. At the death, it became apparent how every run would have mattered.