South Africa T20I Run Chase Record vs PAK: With her maiden T20I century, Reeza Hendricks gave South Africa its first T20I series win since August 2022. The Proteas celebrated their 7-wicket win in the second match against Pakistan at the SuperSport Park. After Pakistan scored 206 runs for 5 wickets on the board, South Africa needed some special performance from its players. With David Miller out of the field, all eyes were on South Africa’s playing XI, wondering who could fill his role. This question remained unanswered until Hendrix arrived to decide the fate of the game.
South Africa has created history in T20 International cricket by taking a 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 series against Pakistan. South Africa has become the third team to achieve the target of 200+ five or more times in T20 Internationals.
Most successful chase of 200+ runs in T20 Internationals
7 – India
5 – South Africa
5 – Australia
3 – England
3 – Pakistan
His exploits with the bat gave Rob Walter his first T20I series win since taking over the white-ball coaching role in March 2023. After being invited to field first, the inexperienced South African line-up posted the fifth-highest score in the first innings at SuperSport Park, but achieved it with three balls to spare. The backbone of South Africa’s record-breaking chase was a 157-run partnership between Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen.
While Hendricks hit sixes for fun, Van der Dussen scored his seventh T20I half-century and made Pakistan’s star-studded bowling line-up look ordinary. Chasing a challenging score of 207, South Africa lost Ryan Rickelton (2) and Matthew Bretzke (12) in the powerplay. When demand began to increase, Hendrix increased his pace and continued his work without any problems.
The pair led South Africa to victory, as Pakistan’s over-reliance on slower balls began to hurt their chase. Hendricks finally handed the ball to Irfan Khan, before Dussen brilliantly sent the ball into the stands to level the series. At the start of the match, Pakistan dismissed their captain Mohammad Rizwan early, forcing Babar Azam and Sam Ayub to attack the South African bowling unit.
Both of them took Pakistan to 101/1 after 11 overs, but South Africa made a comeback thanks to debutant Dayan Galim and spinner George Linde. Both of them bowled together and Pakistan was reduced to 136/4 in 16 overs. Ayub and Irfan Khan scored 73 runs in 32 balls for the fifth wicket, taking the visiting team’s score to 206/5.
With an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, Pakistan and South Africa will face each other in the final match of the T20I-leg on Saturday.
