South Africa opt to bat first after winning toss against Pakistan

South Africa have elected to bat first after winning the toss in an important game against Pakistan at the Karachi’s National Bank Arena.

Both the teams are eyeing a place in the final of the tri-series against New Zealand.

Pakistan – led by Muhammad Rizwan – have made couple of changes to their side as Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Hasnain replaced middle-order batter Kamran Ghulam and injured Haris Rauf, respectively.

Today’s match is a must-win game for both Pakistan and South Africa after their respective loss against New Zealand in the tournament.

Both the two sides have played a total of 86 ODI matches agaist each other. Of these, the Pakistan have won 33, while the Proteas emerged victorious in 52 games. One match ended in no result.

Playing XIs

Pakistan: Babar Azam, Salman Agha, Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (c)(wk), Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Abrar Ahmed.

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Matthew Breetzke, Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Tony de Zorzi, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Senuran Muthusamy, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.