Pakistan look to hit back in their strongest format

Overview

**South Africa v Pakistan**1st T20I
Newlands, Cape Town
Friday, 1 February, 6.00pm local time, 4.00pm GMT

Pakistan are at the summit of the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings and will want to assert their supremacy in the format after missing out on the ODI series by a whisker. They have an explosive opening combination in Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam, then comes the experience of Mohammad Hafeez and skipper Shoaib Malik in the middle order.

If Pakistan's batting order is strong, their bowling unit is steel. Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Afridi form a formidable pace attack, while Shadab Khan fills the spin-bowling position. Hafeez, with 54 wickets in 67 innings, is Pakistan's leading wicket-taker among active cricketers and brings in a utilitarian off-spin option.

Pakistan, a juggernaut in the shortest format of the game, have triumphed in 11 T20I series on the trot. Their last defeat in a bilateral T20I series came against New Zealand back in January 2016. The visitors, however, will miss their regular skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who is serving a four-match ban after breaching ICC's anti-racism code.

South Africa, meanwhile, will want to bring the momentum from the ODI series into the T20Is. Opener Quinton de Kock, middle-order batsman Rassie van der Dussen and skipper Faf du Plessis were on song in the ODIs.

Andile Phehlukwayo, with eight wickets in five games, was the highest wicket-taker of the series. He will lead the pace attack – comprising Junior Dala, Chris Morris and uncapped Lutho Sipamla – in the absence of the rested Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn.

South Africa will offer opportunities to their fringe players and newcomers, after opting to rest the regulars ahead of a busy summer schedule: they host Sri Lanka for a full tour before flying to England and Wales for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Key players

**Faf du Plessis (South Africa):**The Proteas skipper adds much needed experience to a relatively inexperienced squad. Having scored 155 at an average of 77.50 in the ODI series, he will be South Africa's batting mainstay.

**Babar Azam (Pakistan):**Ranked No.1 on the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Batting Rankings, Azam is Pakistan's batting heavyweight in the shortest format of the game. He had a successful run in the ODIs, compiling 195 runs at an average of 48.75.

Conditions

While the conditions might be cloudy earlier in the day, the skies will be clear at the time of the toss. The surface in Cape Town is skiddy and not easy to bat on, which showed in the final ODI. Pakistan could make just 240 in the first innings and South Africa took 40 overs to chase it down.

Squads

**South Africa:**Faf du Plessis (c), Gihahn Cloete, Junior Dala, Quinton de Kock, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Chris Morris, Willem Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Lutho Sipamla

**Pakistan:**Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali, Hussain Talat, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik (c), Usman Khan, Mohammad Rizwan