Pakistan claim historic win over South Africa in Karachi ODI

Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha’s record-breaking partnership powered Pakistan to a stunning six-wicket win over South Africa in Karachi on Thursday morning (AEDT).

The pair’s 260-run stand was the highest fourth-wicket partnership against South Africa in ODI history and booked Pakistan a spot in the Tri-Nation Series final on Friday.

Having opted to bat first, South Africa made a strong start through captain Temba Bavuma (82) and Tony de Zorzi (22), putting on 51 runs for the first wicket.

After de Zorzi fell, Bavuma and last match’s centurion Matthew Breetzke (83) added 119 runs for the second wicket, taking their side through to 170 in the 29th over.

Following Bavuma’s dismissal, Heinrich Klaasen (87) came to the crease and paired with Breetzke to put on 68 runs for the third wicket.

After Breetzke and Wiaan Mulder (2) fell in quick succession, Klaasen then teamed up with Kyle Verreynne (44*) to add 78 runs for the fifth wicket.

With Klaasen departing in the 48th over, a late flurry from Verreynne and Corbin Bosch (15*) took South Africa through to a strong total of 5/352 from their 50 overs.

After being heavy underdogs across top bookmakers pre-match, South Africa’s impressive display with the bat shifted live cricket betting odds in their favour midway through the contest.

When Fakhar Zaman (41), Babar Azam (23) and Saud Shakeel (15) all lost their wickets inside the first 11 overs of Pakistan’s chase, major sports betting sites further shortened South Africa’s odds of winning.

Rizwan and Agha steadily shifted the momentum, however, with the two batting for 38.1 overs to guide Pakistan to their highest-ever successful chase in ODI cricket.

Rizwan would go on to carry his bat for 122, while Agha made 134 at a strike rate of 130 before falling on the penultimate ball of the chase.

“When God helps, you break all kinds of records,” Rizwan said after the match.

“We gave our full effort.

“We were looking to restrict them to 320 but Klaasen took them to 350.

“When we were going back after the first innings, Khushdil [Shah] said we had chased 350 before.

“Someone said we had chased 340 against some other team.

“When Agha and I were batting, we set targets for five overs.

“We failed to achieve that a couple of times but mostly did.”

Pakistan’s victory sets up a fascinating finale of the Tri-Nation Series with a rematch between Pakistan and New Zealand on Friday in Karachi.

Despite the Black Caps having beaten Pakistan earlier in the week, top cricket betting sites put the hosts at -151.52 to win and New Zealand at +120.

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