Preview: Do-or-die clash for Pakistan as they take on South Africa
Pakistan cannot afford another slip-up as they take on the only unbeaten team in the tournament, South Africa, at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.
It’s a must-win game for Pakistan and they have a potent, in-form South African attack, fresh off devouring India, to conquer. That Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, the two pillars of their batting line-up, have struggled sums up Pakistan’s woes this tournament.
T20 World Cup Standings
If the loss to India was a bitter pill to swallow, following that was a nail-biting finish against Zimbabwe, where they ended up on the wrong side. A convincing win against Netherlands, their first in Australia in this format, gave them a bit of a relief.
Two narrow losses to kick start the campaign isn’t exactly how Pakistan would have planned for their tournament to go, and it has left them needing to win their big game against South Africa and hoping other results go their way.
Can Pakistan still qualify?
But South Africa could pose big headaches to this Pakistan team. They are the only unbeaten team in this T20 World Cup, and more importantly, they have shown strengths in different departments to possibly go all the way this time around.
For one, the Proteas batting line-up is a never-ending string of pace hitters, who don’t just counter pace, but smash it. The South African middle order is arguably the best in this tournament and it has stepped up more than once already in this short event.