KARACHI: After the Test series bagged by South Africa against Pakistan, the Proteas are confident about playing their best in the current One-day International (ODI) cricket series, which started on March 10 and ends on March 24, 2013.
Despite the T20 won by Pakistan against South Africa and a warm-up match against South African XI, Pakistan team has yet to struggle to bring their form. It seems that Pakistan has selected a strong one-day squad along with the inclusion of Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat on the batting side and Junaid Khan in bowling complementing pacer Umar Gul.
However, the hosts equally have a strong team after the return of Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn. Therefore, the South African team has a double edge over the tourists because on the one hand they have experienced players in good form and on the other they have the advantage of home ground and the crowd.
Hashim Amla, Colin Ingram, AB de Villiers and Graeme Simth are the key players for the South Africans while Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Imran Farhat and Nasir Jamshed are the key players on the Pakistan side, with the comeback of Shahid Afridi hopefully trusted to be a fortifying force.
It is yet to be seen how the players show their sense of responsibility during the match keeping aside their personal differences.
In the first ODI played at Chevrolet Park, Bloemfontein, the South African team played very well resulting in the victory with an unbeatable century from Colin Ingram. The Pakistani team could not live up to the expectations and remained 125 runs short of the target of 315.
However, four ODI’s still remain for the Pakistani team to prove their grit.
The second ODI will be played at Super Sport Park, Centurion on 15th March, 2013.
What is still to be seen is whether the Pakistani team will be able to restore the confidence of the nation as the players are young and in form.
Comments
Comments are closed.