Pakistan will also respond South Africa The second match of the three-match T20I series. This article provides details about the second match of the series, Pakistan Playing XI vs South Africa.
Pakistan Playing XI vs South Africa – 2nd T20I, Pakistan South Africa Tour 2025:
Opening pitcher: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub
After suffering a disappointing loss in the first of three T20Is against South Africa, Pakistan will be looking to bounce back and play the next match with a chance of winning.
Salman Ali Agha’s side will be confident of doing so given Pakistan’s strong performance against South Africa at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, which will host the second T20I.
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The home team has won two of the three matches they have played against South Africa at this particular venue, including the Proteas’ victory over Pakistan..
All three PAK vs SA T20I matches played here so far were part of the three-match T20I series played by both teams in 2021.
The team management and captain will have to decide whether to make any changes to the squad for the next match, but given that the series is only one game in, that seems highly unlikely.
Pakistan are expected to field the same players who featured in the first T20I and will be hoping for a better show in all three areas.
Pakistan will likely have Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub in the starting lineup and support them to get the team off to a good start.
Individually, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub will aim to turn the start they got into a fight-clinching knockout.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Babar Azam, Salman Agha (c), Usman Khan (wk), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf,
The middle order following the first pair failed miserably while chasing a target of 195 runs in the first T20I.
The mid-order team, which included names like Babar Azam, Salman Agha, Usman Khan and Hasan Nawaz, seemed clueless to the good bowling of South Africa’s bowlers.
This middle order of the home team will have to take responsibility and perform well in the next matches in order for the team to have a chance to compete with the bat..
The top five batters are responsible for scoring the majority of their team’s runs while batting first or chasing..
Bowlers: Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed
As for the bowling lineup, it was the fast bowlers who leaked runs early and late in the innings, with experienced fast bowler Shaheen Afridi turning the tide with a generous 17th over.
Afridi will be hoping to put in a much improved performance in the second match of the series compared to the previous match.
Afridi’s bowling partner Naseem Shah suffered a high score in the first few overs but made a good comeback in the third over and played a key role in keeping South Africa under 200 runs.
Naseem will be hoping to do more of the same with the new ball in the second T20I to keep his opponents’ total below par.
Amid the carnage of the first six overs, the spinners did their job by pulling things back in the middle of the innings and with Mohammad Nawaz being the pick of the bowlers along with Saim Ayub, they look to continue their good work.