World Cup 2019: Most Runs, Most Wickets (Updated) after Pakistan vs South Africa match
After their convincing win against South Africa in the group stage match of World Cup 2019, Pakistan hold on to the glimmer of hope that they can still make it to the semi-finals.
In the first inning, Pakistan rode on the back of a stunning knock from Haris Sohail to post a total of 308/7. With South Africa's batting being a huge letdown in the previous games, this daunting total was going to be a major challenge.
Their chase couldn't have got off to a worse start as Hashim Amla was sent back by the in-form Mohammad Amir in his very first over. Then, Quinton de Kock and skipper Faf du Plessis steadied the South African chase but Shadab Khan broke the partnership as the former's sweep could only find Imam in the deep. A few overs later, Shadab struck another blow as Aiden Markram's hard time in the middle was brought to an end. This brought together Du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen.
However, a few overs later, Pakistan's strike bowler Amir came back into the attack to dismiss du Plessis. Also, all this while the run-rate had been steadily rising and this resulted in another wicket as Dussen failed while trying to go big against Shadab. Dussen's wicket resulted in South Africa losing half of their side and Pakistan were moving towards a big win.
The likes of David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris played decent cameos to reduce the margin of the loss. In the end, Wahab Riaz found some reverse swing and rounded off the match to hand over a 49-run victory for Pakistan. This result meant that Pakistan still have a chance in this World Cup while South Africa became the second team to be knocked out after Afghanistan.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss at Lords and chose to bat on a greenish wicket. The decision seemingly placed a lot of faith on his under-performing batting line-up. Pakistan's openers, Fakhar Zaman and Imam Ul Haq proved that their skipper's decision was right by starting off on a great note. Both the batsmen took on South Africa's pacers and scored at a fair clip.
Their 81-run opening stand was broken the moment spin came into the picture as Zaman played a poor shot off Imran Tahir's bowling to lose his wicket. A few overs later, Imam fell victim to a stunning catch as the 40-year young Tahir plucked out a low hit off his own bowling. Then, just like Zaman and Imam lost their wickets, Hafeez too got out in an innocuous manner off Aiden Markram's bowling.
This wicket brought together Azam and Haris Sohail and the inning turned on its head after that. Playing his first match of the World Cup, Sohail started to time the ball as if he had never missed a match. This knock from Sohail helped Azam at the other end as he kept on rotating the strike without any pressure to accelerate. Their 81-run-stand was finally brought to an end as Azam mistimed a big shot off Andile Phehlukwayo.
This wicket didn't perturb Sohail as he continued with his effortless strokeplay while batting with Imad Wasim. Sohail's classy 89-run knock reached its conclusion in the last over but he had already done enough as Pakistan ended up with a score of 308/7 after 50 overs.
Most Runs
Given that the batsmen from both teams hadn't had a great tournament before this match, Pakistan and South Africa still don't have a representative in the Top 10 list for Most Runs.
Most Wickets
While there weren't any major changes in the batting list, Mohammad Amir and Imran Tahir ensured that the same doesn't happen with the Most Wickets list. Amir regained his top spot with two wickets while Tahir also took two on his own to hold the 7th position.
Also see – Australia vs England head to head stats
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