World Cup 2019, Pakistan vs South Africa: Predicted Playing 11 and Key Players for Pakistan
In what will be a do or die match for both teams, Pakistan and South Africa will lock horns in Match 30 of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Lords, London. These two teams lie only above Afghanistan in the points table.
South Africa's campaign has been so dire that their only win was against a struggling Afghanistan team. Their batting has often struggled to be fluent with Rassie van der Dussen being the lone exception. However, a decent performance with the ball in the last game against New Zealand should give some confidence for this match.
On the other hand, Pakistan have had several good moments only to end up without stitching them together. Like South Africa, Pakistan have also faltered in putting up competitive scores. This is reflected in Pakistan having zero individual centuries in the World Cup.
Even with their bowling, only Mohammad Amir has looked lethal while the others have leaked runs constantly. Pakistan will look to finally put up an all-round performance against South Africa and win the match in the process. Considering that Pakistan were outplayed by India, a few changes to the playing 11 might be necessitated.
So, let's have a look at Pakistan's predicted playing 11.
Openers
Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman
Pakistan's opening batsmen, Imam and Fakhar Zaman, form a nice combination of patience and aggression but they have not been able to score runs consistently in the World Cup. Against a top-class South African new ball attack, Imam and Fakhar have to set up a good platform for the middle order.
Middle-order
Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed
Pakistan's middle order has a lot of ability but they have been guilty of throwing away their wicket on too many occasions. Babar Azam, in particular, has looked delightful but he has found different ways of losing his wicket. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hafeez and skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed have had their good days in the tournament.
However, like most of their peers, those performances have been inconsistent. Pakistan can be expected to alter their batting line-up with Haris Sohail coming in to replace veteran Shoaib Malik. Malik has had a barren run and it might be time for Pakistan to look past the veteran.
All-rounders
Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan
Pakistan's two spin-bowling all-rounders will have a big role to play against South Africa. South Africa are not known to play spin very well and this will bring both Wasim and Shadab into the game.
Bowlers
Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain
Pakistan's experienced bowling duo, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz have had a good tournament. The only difference between Amir and Riaz has been the latter's lack of wickets. Riaz has been quite unfortunate in that regard as the fielders haven't supported his concerted aggression. There will be a slight change in the bowling combination as young Mohammad Hasnain could replace the out of form Hasan Ali.
Key Players
Babar Azam- Babar Azam came into the tournament with Pakistan fans expecting a brilliant time for the country's best batsman. Azam has a stunning record and his form also justified the hype and expectations around him. When one watches him bat, it would be difficult to not admire his classy strokes and overall talent with the bat. However,.he has failed to light up the World Cup with his highest score being only 63 in 4 matches. With Pakistan's batting line up failing to stand up, Azam would be needed to show his full potential and notch up a big score against South Africa in a crucial match.
Mohammad Hafeez- Hafeez's career will probably be termed as one that 'had a lot of potential but failed to deliver in sufficient quantity'. This World Cup has also been a small sample of that. He played a superb 84-run knock in Pakistan's win against England but apart from that, he hasn't been able to do much in the other 3 matches. Pakistan will want their experienced campaigner to finally show his full potential in the remaining 4 crucial matches.
Mohammad Amir- No one could have envisaged that Mohammad Amir could have had such a good start to the World Cup with 13 wickets to his name in just 4 matches. Many termed his selection as a lucky one. But, Pakistan's selectors knew what they were doing when they decided to pick Amir on the basis of experience. Experience can often be a misleading factor for selection but Amir has proved his supporters right with his performance on the field.
Pakistan's predicted playing 11
Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed (C/WK), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain.
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