Pakistan take on South Africa in first T20I in Rawalpindi today

The first T-20 International (T20I) of the three-match series between Pakistan and South Africa will be played at Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi at 8:00 PM today, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday.

While on one hand, Pakistani star batter Babar Azam will make a comeback to the team after a gap of one year, Quinton de Kock, from South Africa, will also make a comeback for the shortest format of the game.

On the other hand, Captain Salman Ali Agha has said that the team is looking forward to win today’s match.

Earlier, the two sides drew the recently concluded Test series 1-1.

Explosive batter de Kock, who has retired from ODIs, never officially walked away from T20I cricket but he hadn’t played for South Africa since last year’s T20 World Cup final until his return against Namibia earlier this month.

Babar, on the other hand, is yet to play any T20 match since the end of the Pakistan Super League’s latest edition in May, around the time he was omitted from Pakistani squad for the shortest format of the game. 

The former Pakistan captain was excluded from the squad over concerns regarding his low strike rate and poor form.

Other than Azam, Pakistan will see the return of pacer Naseem Shah, once a mainstay in Pakistan’s squad, to the shortest format of the game. 

South Africa have rested some of their key players for the series in view of a full tour of India ahead. Experienced batters Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs have been rested while David Miller has been ruled out due to injury. Donovan Ferreira, who has played nine intermittent T20Is, has been handed the captaincy of the squad while spinner Keshav Maharaj has also been rested.

Despite some major South African players missing from the squad, Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha said on Monday he sees the series as an opportunity to build toward the World Cup next year.

PAK vs SA: Predicted XIs:

Pakistan: Saim, Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Agha (c), Usman Khan (wk), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed

South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Donovan Ferreira (c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman