South Africa vs Pakistan, 2nd ODI, Preview: Proteas look to avenge for the loss in the series opener

It came as an utter shock for the South African cricket team when Pakistan defeated them by five wickets in the first ODI. After having dominated the visitors throughout the Test series, it was expected of them to continue the supremacy in white-ball cricket as well. But, to everyone’s surprise, the Pakistan team punched above its weights and delivered a sublime show.

Led by Mohammad Hafeez and Imam-ul-Haq in the series opener, the visitors claimed a 1-0 lead in the series. They’ll be optimistic about winning the second game as well to get closer to the series win. However, the South Africans will not let things go off so easily. The team will have a few areas which they’ll need to address before going into the 2nd ODI. Openers’ scoring rates and picking wickets more often are two areas where they’d be a lot of focus on.

Team Combinations

South Africa

South Africa is expected to continue pretty much with the same side that played the first ODI. There could be a few talks about shuffling around the top three batsmen. Rassie van der Dussen, who scored 93 on his debut might get to open the innings either with Hendricks or Amla. Klaasen will continue to don the gloves in Quinton de Kock‘s absence. Duanne Olivier is the only ambiguity in this eleven. But, the management is expected to back him for another game, especially after the heroics he put up in the Test series.

Predicted XI: Reeza Hendricks, Hashim Amla, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis (c), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier.

Pakistan

After the highly clinical performance in the previous game, Pakistan will not want to tinker around with the side either. The same set of players who featured in the first ODI will continue yet again. The top-five batsmen in the side are all well-experienced and will have huge roles to fulfil. With Usman Khan not completely fit, either of Shaheen Afridi or Mohammad Amir could be picked in the eleven.

Predicted XI: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c) (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi/Mohammad Amir.

Focus will be on

Rassie van der Dussen (South Africa)

After creating several ripples in domestic cricket and T20 Leagues all around the world, Rassie van der Dussen finally got his opportunity to don the Proteas jersey in the first ODI. He scored 93 off 101 balls in that game and was a brilliant act. Even though he missed out on his century by just seven runs, that innings should give him a lot of confidence going forward. As he isn’t a part of the squad for the last three ODIs of the series, this will be his final opportunity for the time being where he will want to excel.

Fakhar Zaman (Pakistan)

After the Zimbabwe series last year, Pakistani opener Fakhar Zaman has had several troubles with the bat in the last few months. In his last 9 ODIs, the left-hander only managed to score 235 runs at an average of 26.165 of these runs came in just two innings against New Zealand. After looking good initially, he perished after scoring 25 runs in 23 balls in the first ODI. He will have to come back to his best ahead of the World Cup 2019 and this series is the perfect platform for him to regain his confidence.

Head to Head

Matches – 74 | South Africa won – 48 | Pakistan won – 25 | NR – 1

Stat Attack

95 – The number of runs that Imam-ul-Haq needs to score in the second ODI to level Fakhar Zaman’s record of fastest (in terms of innings) to 1,000 ODI runs. Imam scored 905 runs in 17 innings thus far.

Broadcast Details

TV – Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD

Live Streaming – Hotstar

Match Timings – 16:30 IST; 13:00 local

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