Pakistan reached the semi-finals of the ongoing Hong Kong Sixes tournament after defeating South Africa by 18 runs during their quarter-final match at Mission Road Ground on Saturday.
Batting first, the Green Shirts had a shaky start to their innings as in-form batsmen Asif Ali and Fahim perished for a golden duck in the first over with just eight runs on the board.
Back-to-back wickets did not deter the national team as Mohamed Akhlaq in his partnership with Hussein Talat sparked a stunning revival with powerful batting.
The wicket-keeper batsman smashed the Proteas bowlers for seven sixes and two fours and brought up a half-century in just 16 deliveries.
Soon after achieving the feat, Akhlaq was retired on 53*, putting Pakistan in a dominant position as they were 66-2 in four overs.
All-rounder Aamir Yamin and Talat then put the finishing touches on Pakistan’s innings with an eye-catching cameo. Yamin scored 18 goals out of six, while Talat scored an unbeaten 27 goals from 11 balls.
Thanks to them, the Men in Green managed a massive total of 105-3 in the six overs.
Chasing a daunting target of 104 runs, South Africa could only score 88-4 despite the attack of Evan Jones.
The five-time champions had a shaky start in the chase as they lost two wickets including their skipper JJ Smuts inside two overs with just 12 runs on the board.
Jones then joined forces with Modiri Litheko and pushed to anchor the run chase with a crucial 48-run partnership for the fourth wicket until Talat brought down the curtains on the fighting stroke.
Jones remained South Africa’s top scorer with 13 fours and 41 fours, adorned with one four and five sixes.
Talat struck again in the next delivery to reduce the former champions to 61-4 in 4.3 overs.
Consecutive dismissals halted South Africa’s run flow and in the end they eventually reached 18 points.
For Pakistan, Talat took two wickets, while Shahab Khan and Yameen made one scalp each.
The team led by Faheem Ashraf is unbeaten in the current edition of the Hong Kong Super Six tournament. They started their campaign with a 13-run victory over UAE before humiliating arch rivals India by six wickets.
The semi-final and final matches of the tournament will be held on Sunday (tomorrow).