South Africa : In the first match of the three-match ODI series, Pakistan defeated South Africa after an interesting contest.

The first match of the three-match ODI series was played today at Super Sports Park Centurion.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl in the first ODI against South Africa. Despite the early four wickets falling quickly, the hosts scored 273 for six in the allotted 50 overs.

South Africa’s Van Derdison played an unbeaten 123-run innings while Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf took two wickets each for Pakistan and Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Hasnain took one wicket each.
Hassan Ali has not been included in the Pakistan team while Danish Aziz will make his debut for Pakistan.

Pakistan’s innings
Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhr Zaman started the innings for Pakistan but Fakhr Zaman returned to the pavilion after scoring 8 runs. After Fakhr Zaman was dismissed early, Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam showed responsibility.
Imam-ul-Haq was dismissed for 70 while Babar Azam played a brilliant innings of 103 runs. Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan also scored 40 and 33 runs respectively and played an important role in the victory of their team.

Pakistan achieved the target of 274 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the last ball of the 50th over while for South Africa, Enrich Norji took 4 wickets, Phalkaviu 2 wickets and Rabada 1 wicket.

Pakistan has a one-wicket lead in the three-match ODI series and the second ODI between the two teams will be played on April 4.