Gaddafi Stadium Lahore pitch report and weather conditions
After winning the Test series against South Africa, Pakistan will host the Proteas in a T20I series at Gaddafi Stadium, starting on Thursday (February 11). The series will mark South Africa's first T20I match on Pakistani soil. Fans will likely witness high-scoring encounters in this series as the pitch in Lahore assists the batsmen.
The ball comes onto the bat nicely at Gaddafi Stadium. The average first innings score in the previous 11 T20Is played here was 167. Only on six occasions, the teams batting first finished with a total between 170 and 189.
In the last T20I played at this stadium, Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez had an unbeaten 131-run partnership for the second wicket against Bangladesh. Their second-wicket stand helped Pakistan chase a 137-run target in 16.4 overs.
Mohammad Hasnain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Haris Rauf were excellent with the ball in the first innings. The three pace bowlers accounted for four wickets in their 12 overs. This performance suggests that the fast bowlers will get help from the surface at the Gaddafi Stadium.
While none of the South African cricketers have played a T20I at this venue, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has aggregated 322 runs in nine innings. He is the only batsman to score over 300 T20I runs on this ground.
Mohammad Amir has been the most successful bowler for Pakistan in T20Is at the Gaddafi Stadium. Unfortunately, Amir is not available for this series. The home team will rest its hopes on Mohammad Hasnain, who has taken five wickets in four T20Is at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Meanwhile, South Africa will expect skipper Heinrich Klaasen to make the most out of the batsman-friendly conditions. Also, David Miller will have the onus of performing well for the visitors.
In the bowling unit, Junior Dala will be keen to improve his record against Pakistan. Dala could not dismiss a single Pakistani batsman in the three T20Is he played against them in February 2019.
Gaddafi Stadium Lahore weather conditions
All three T20Is will start at 3:30 PM local time. The conditions will be sunny in the afternoon, and there are no predictions for rainfall on any of the three days. The temperature is expected to be around 23 degrees Celsius.