NEW DELHI: Mercurial Pakistan face 'perennial chokers' South Africa in the 26th Match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
South Africa hold the upper hand when it comes to head-to-head ODI matches against Pakistan. In the 82 ODIs played between the two sides, South Africa have won 51 games while Pakistan have won 30. One game ended in no-result.
Pakistan, the 1992 champions, have hit a roadblock at the World Cup with their opening two wins followed by three one-sided defeats to arch-rivals India, Australia and then to neighbours Afghanistan.
South Africa, on the other hand, have shaken off a shock loss to the Netherlands and have four wins to put them in sight of the semi-finals.
Pakistan have won six of the last 10 meetings with South Africa including by 49 runs when they met at Lord's in the 2019 World Cup.
South Africa have crossed 350 thrice so far in the tournament. They have also scored 137, 143 and 144 in the last 10 overs of three matches.
With four group games to play, Pakistan can still make the semi-finals but there is little margin for error.
However, as well as victory on Friday, Pakistan also need to improve their -0.40 net run-rate which could prove to be the tie-breaker in the race for semi-final spots.
Squads:
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Usama Mir, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Fakhar Zaman, Agha Salman, Mohammad Nawaz
South Africa: Temba Bavuma(c), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lizaad Williams, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
