Pakistan vs South Africa, 2021: 1st T20I, Statistical Preview

Pakistan and South Africa will play the first T20I of the 3-match series on 11th February at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Pakistan have recently defeated the visiting South African team by 2-0 in the Test series. They will be looking to continue their brilliant performance in the shorter format as well. 

South Africa will be playing this series without most of their regular players. They will be led by wicket-keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen in this series. Only 4 players among the ones who took part in the Test series will be playing the limited-overs series.

Pakistan have recalled Hasan Ali and Asif Ali in their 20-man squad for the T20I series. There are four uncapped players in their T20I side – left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar, all-rounder Danish Aziz, leg-spinner Zahid Mehmood and bowling all-rounder Amad Butt.

Let’s look at important stats and numbers before the start of the T20I series between Pakistan and South Africa:

Team Records

Head to Head: In the 14 T20Is played between the two teams, Pakistan have won 6 matches, while South Africa have won 8 T20Is.

5 – Pakistan have been unbeaten at home in their last 6 T20Is. They have won 5 of these 6 matches while one match was abandoned. 

9 – In the last 9 completed matches at home, Pakistan batted second in all the matches. They have won 6 of these 9 matches. 

4- South Africa are coming into this series with 4 consecutive losses in their last 4 T20Is. They have lost 7 of their last 8 T20Is.

Upcoming milestones for Babar Azam

1681 – Babar Azam has so far scored 1681 runs in 84 T20Is. He needs 10 more runs in order to surpass Umar Akmal in terms of T20I runs, and become the third-highest run-getter for Pakistan in T20Is. Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez currently hold top-2 positions in this record.

50.93 – Babar Azam averages 50.93 in his T20I career till now. He along with Virat Kohli are the only 2 players to average over 50 in T20Is with a minimum of 1000 runs. 

16 – Babar Azam has so far hit 16 half-centuries in T20Is. He is currently at fifth position among the players with most T20I fifties. If he hits 2 or more half-centuries in this series, he will come at the third spot in this record.

1409 – David Miller has so far scored 1409 runs in T20Is at an average of 29.35. He will surpass Shahid Afridi in terms of T20I runs once he scores 8 more runs. Miller has hit 61 sixes in T20I cricket which is second-most by a South African batsman after JP Duminy.