| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
Edgbaston: South Africa were left with no answers to Pakistan in their ICC Champions Trophy 2017 encounter as the rains hastened confirmation of their defeat. David Miller scored an unbeaten 75 and was the reason why South Africa managed to breach the 200-run mark.
Chasing a target of 220 to win Pakistan scored 119/3 in 27 overs before rain caused the players to leave the field.
However, Pakistan were 19 runs ahead of the par score as per the Duckworth-Lewis method. Babar Azam played a steady knock of 31 to guide his side to a strong position. He was ably supported by Fakhar Zaman who scored 31 of 23 and hit five fours.
For South Africa, Morne Morkel bowled a fiery spell of seven overs where he grabbed three wickets and continuously troubled the Pakistan batsman. But it wasn’t enough as Pakistan somehow survived the scare and kept the scoreboard ticking.
Incidentally, apart from the first match between Bangladesh and England, this is the sixth match where the play was interrupted due to rain.
Earlier, South Africa won the toss and elected to bat. But their plan did not yield the desired result as they got off to a poor start as Imad Wasim and Hassan Ali put the shackled on the South African top order.
The batting was a big letdown for the Proteas and left a lot to be desired. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were futile in their attempts to maintain a consistent partnership.
The only bright spot in the batting for South Africa was David Miller, who scored a decent 75 of 104 deliveries and took full advantage of the poor bowling to him and took the bowlers to all parts of the ground. In his innings of 75, he pulled, drove and cut with panache. He also picked the gaps in the field to perfection.
Meanwhile, for Pakistan, the star performer with the ball was Hasan Ali, who returned with figures of 3/24. Courtesy of his bowling, he was awarded the man of the match. South Africa’s loss has opened up the group and gives the match between India and Sri Lanka a different dimension.
Brief scores
South Africa - 219 for 8 (Miller 75*, de Kock 33, Hasan 3-24)
Pakistan - 119 for 3 (Babar 31*, Morkel 3-18)
Status - Pakistan won by 19 runs (DLS method)
