Saim Ayub hit a half-century and spinner Abrar Ahmed took four wickets as Pakistan beat South Africa by seven wickets in the third one-day international on Saturday, taking the series 2-1.
Left-handed opener Ayub smashed 11 boundaries and a six in his 70-ball 77 to steer Pakistan to a 144-run chase in 25.1 overs after Abrar's 4-27 had routed South Africa for 143 in 37.5 overs.
Ayub added 65 runs for the second wicket with Babar Azam (27) after Nandre Burger dismissed opener Fakhar Zaman for nought with the second ball of the innings.
Azam fell run out, much to the disappointment of a packed 16,000 Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, having now gone 32 innings without an ODI hundred.
Ayub fell to spinner Bjorn Fortuin before Mohammad Rizwan, 32 not out, and Salman Agha, five not out, completed the chase.
The ODI series win is Pakistan's first against South Africa at home, having lost 3-2 twice in 2003 and 2007.
Pakistan won the first match by two wickets and South Africa took the second by eight wickets, also in Faisalabad.
Victorious skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi said: "It's a complete team effort and a reward for hard work."
Shaheen, captaining Pakistan for the first time in ODIs, added: "This win will give us confidence for the coming matches."
Visiting skipper Matthew Breetzke praised Abrar.
"We wanted a total of 250-plus but Abrar bowled very well and we lost too many wickets," said Breetzke, standing in for injured skipper Temba Bavuma.
Earlier, Abrar combined with Salman Agha (2-18) and pacer Shaheen (2-18) routed South Africa who won the toss and batted, but only four batters crossed double figures.
Quinton de Kock followed his hundred in the second match with a top score of 53 off 70 balls with a six and six boundaries while Lhuan-dre Pretorius knocked a 45-ball 39 with a six and four boundaries.
When on 44, De Kock completed 7,000 runs in 158th innings, the second fastest to the milestone behind countryman Hashim Amla in 150 innings.
De Kock, 32, is the fifth South African to score 7,000 or more ODI runs behind Jacques Kallis (11,550), AB de Villiers (9427), Amla (8113) and Herschelle Gibbs (8094).
De Kock and Pretorius set the platform with a 72-run opening stand before the spinners hit back for Pakistan as the visitors lost their nine wickets for 56 runs.
Agha dismissed Pretorius and Tony de Zorzi for two in the space of 15 runs before left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz ended all hopes of a big total with the wicket of De Kock in the 25th over.
Abrar jolted the innings by dismissing Rubin Hermann (one), Donovan Ferreira (seven) and Corbin Bosch (nought) in successive overs.
He then ended Breetzke's resistance-filled 16 to improve on his previous best of 4-33 which came against Zimbabwe in Harare last year.
Shaheen had Nqabayomzi Peter (16) and Lungi Ngidi (nought) to wrap up the innings in the 38th over.
Earlier, after winning the toss, South Africa set Pakistan a target of 144 runs to win the third and deciding ODI.
The visitors opted to bat first, but the decision did not pay off as the entire South African side was dismissed for 143 runs in 37.5 overs.
For South Africa, Quinton de Kock top-scored with 53 runs, while Johan du Preez Pretorius added 39 runs.
Captain Matthew Breetzke made 16 runs before being dismissed by Abrar Ahmed, and Peter also scored 16 runs.
Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed led the attack with an impressive four wickets, while Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, and Shaheen Shah Afridi claimed two wickets each to restrict South Africa to a modest total.
Pakistan will now need 144 runs to seal victory in the three-match ODI series, which is currently tied 1-1.
The series is levelled at 1-1. And today’s match will decide the winner of the series.
Pakistan had defeated South Africa in the first match by two wickets, while the Proteas won the second match on Thursday.
Quinton de Kock revived his international career with a fluent 22nd ODI century as South Africa outclassed Pakistan by eight wickets in the second match and leveled the series 1-1.
The left-handed de Kock, who reversed his 2023 ODI retirement before the white-ball series in Pakistan, smashed an unbeaten 123 off 119 balls in the Proteas' chase of 270-2 in 40.1 overs.
Fast bowler Nandre Burger (4-46) and leg-spinner Nqabayomzi Peter (3-55) picked up career-best figures to restrict Pakistan to 269-9 after South Africa lost its seventh consecutive toss on the tour.
A large crowd is expected to throng the stadium today as Pakistan seeks to cement its dominant home record at Iqbal Stadium, where the national side has played 14 ODIs, winning 10 and losing four.
In comparison, South Africa has featured in seven ODIs at this venue, securing victories in three while facing defeat in four matches.
Earlier, both sides had also competed in Test and T20 series. The Test series ended 1-1, whereas Pakistan triumphed in the T20 series by 2-1.
Playing XIs
Pakistan XI: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan (wk), Salman Agha, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi (capt), Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
South Africa XI: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Matthew Breetzke (capt), Rubin Hermann, Donovan Ferreira, Lungi Ngidi, Corbin Bosch, Bjorn Fortuin, Nandre Burger, Nqabayomzi Peter