South African opener Quinton de Kock was in his element today as he fearlessly, and with some style and class, took down Pakistan spearhead fast bowler Shaheen Afridi.
South Africa were given a rollicking start by their star opener, Quinton de Kock, in their chase of the target of 271 runs against Pakistan as the southpaw thumped four consecutive fours to Shaheen Afridi in the bowler’s first over in the game in Chennai.
de Kock, who is the leading run-scorer in the World Cup 2023 at the moment, laced into Shaheen Afridi with four boundaries in a row on both sides of the wicket. Shaheen was surprisingly not given the first over; Babar Azam went with off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed but he conceded 11 runs.
Shaheen went full and outside off-stump looking for some swing. He didn’t find any movement but was welcomed with a beautiful cover drive boundary from de Kock. Then, Shaheen dragged his length back to which the left-hander flashed hard, and got an outside edge that flew over the first slip for a second four.
The third boundary was once again a sumptuous cover drive from Quinton de Kock. Next, Shaheen overcorrected his line and went at the stumps, but was flicked comfortably by de Kock for a fourth boundary on a trot.
Watch: Quinton de Kock smashes Shaheen Afridi for four fours in a row
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In a must-win game for Pakistan, Babar Azam had won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan suffered another collapse as they went from 225/5 to 270 all-out, which might be a below-par score on this pitch which has played well today. Tabraiz Shamsi took 4 wickets while Marco Jansen took three.
Teams:
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi
Pakistan (Playing XI): Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf
