Both similar scores. Both tight finishes. Both high entertainers. Both same result. Both same Man of the Match awardee. In short, we’ve had a thrilling T20I series so far, basically summarizing this entire 2019 Pakistan tour of South Africa. The visitors have played out of their skins and have deserved all the praise they’ve got in South Africa so far.
However, it’s a pity that we go into the 3rd and final T20I as a dead rubber, because the series has been better contested than the current 2-0 scoreline in favour of the home team. Pakistan has played like a champion team on this tour and they will certainly want to end this one on a high, after losing the ODIs 3-2 and two T20Is by 6 runs and 7 runs respectively.
Babar Azam is a must!
How good is this guy? The 24-year old was tipped to be the next Virat Kohli and as time passes, he keeps proving it to us each day. Regardless of the format or pitch conditions, he has succeeded in scoring runs for his team. 49, 12, 69, 41* and 24 were his scores in the 5-match ODI series, followed by 38 and 90 in the T20I series thus far. Is he’s not in your team, I’m not sure why you’re playing fantasy cricket, lol.
The only reason someone would shy away from making Babar Azam captain or vice captain is because there are a number of all-rounders in both these squads, which means more fantasy points. Shoaib Malik is one I would recommend in your team too, but with three high class players batting before him in Azam, Fakhar Zaman and Hussain Talat, I’d leave Malik out for this match.
Stand-in captain David Miller
Faf du Plessis is out with an injury and the stand-in skipper David Miller has been brilliant so far. In the last game, he smashed a fifty which gave them a decent enough score to win the game. In the 1st T20I, he broke South African fielding records by taking 4 catches and 2 direct hit run outs to win the Man of the Match award in both. How many times have you seen a player winning a MOM Award for fielding?
Please pick Miller in your team of eleven, as the Pakistani bowling is good enough to get a few early scalps and expose the middle order, where Miller will be waiting to have another go. Rassie van der Dussen has showed good form in his short international career so far, but I’d go with Reeza Hendricks as a top order pick, since he is a player suited to the T20 game more. Be careful while picking SA players as they have won the series and wouldn’t mind trying out new combinations.
Stats
- Andile Phehlukwayo, Beuran Hendricks and Chris Morris have picked 4 wickets each in this series, while Pakistan’s best is Usman Shinwari with 3 wickets.
- Babar Azam (128 runs) and Reeza Hendricks (102) are the teams’ respective top scorers.
- Shadab Khan and Junior Dala have bowled 6 overs each, been hit for 10+ runs per over and have gone wicket-less in the series so far.
- Pakistan won their only previous T20I at the SuperSport Park, Centurion, beating South Africa by 95 runs in 2013.
My Fantasy Eleven:
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