South Africa dish out a thrilling victory, Pakistan left stunned

In a nail-biter – when the tail is exposed – all it requires for the tail-enders to maintain composure and steer the ship safely home, given the fact that there is no pressure of an escalating asking run rate.

Teams like South Africa, who has a history of crumbling under pressure, sink deeper in such situations, but tonight in the all-important match for the Pakistanis to stay alive in the tournament, Keshav Maharaj played the most important knock to prevail in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 classic. 

This match changed its colour like the Pakistan team in the crucial passages – The South Africans were always ahead of the asking run rate and Aiden Markram was well poised to finish the game, but all of a sudden Pakistan attacked to pick wickets – Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled with a lot of heart, Mohammad Wasim Junior meant business while Haris Rauf, though leaked runs, asked questions and picked wickets – he could have finished the match if the review didn’t stick to the umpire’s call.

But still – at one end – the spinners were badly needed to pile up the pressure and that is where Pakistan’s hopes shattered – Usama Mir, the first-ever concussion substitute for the injured Shadab Khan had his say despite not being effective but the consistent failure Mohammad Nawaz was needed to deliver yet again under pressure and as usual he failed.

South Africa managed to get over the line. They rode their luck slightly but ultimately held their composure. Maharaj pounced on a short delivery from Nawaz that was totally not the ideal one in such situations, depositing him behind fine leg.

And it was Nawaz again who fell to his knees, while South Africa basked in the glory of that one thing they don't often manage: getting over the line in a nerve-jangler.

Babar Azam came alive with his captaincy regarding the fieldset and bowling changes – and suffocated South Africa in patches: if one or two overs looked good enough, three or four overs leaked runs and let the pressure evaporate in the Chennai air.

In the most important match of the tournament – Pakistan were needed to bat very well, but they failed themselves by throwing away wickets courtesy of attempting those cross-batted shots that triggered their demise against Australia and did not help enough against Afghanistan as well.

All Pakistan needed was to build partnerships and play out the fifty overs – sadly, they triggered their own button of destruction and to challenge South Africa on this deck 270 was never going to be enough.

Still, Pakistan fought – they fought harder – but tonight it didn’t prove fruitful and perhaps, such intent was much needed against India, Australia, and Afghanistan.

The late spark went begging as Maharaj celebrated with his teammates the victory in one of the most thrilling matches in the history of the Cricket World Cup.

With the Chennai crowd backing them - Pakistan were left witnessing the South African celebration - they know that their hopes of staying alive in the tournament is almost over.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar