Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and elected to bat against South Africa in their crucial World Cup tie at the Lord’s, London on Sunday.
Pakistan are 136 for 2 after 27 overs. They lost Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq at their individual scores of 44 each. The duo fell prey to Imran Tahir.
Pakistan — who suffered an 89-run (DLS method) defeat to arch-rivals India in their previous match — have made two changes to their playing XI. They have brought in Haris Sohail and Shaheen Afridi in place of Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali, respectively.
The Proteas have made no changes and have gone with the same XI which played during their 4 wicket loss to New Zealand at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham on Wednesday.
“We are going to bat first today. It looks a good wicket. We’ll try to put runs on the board and defend it. We are focussing on this match and hopefully we do well. It’s an important game for us. Haris Sohail and Shaheen Afridi are back in the team,” said Ahmed after winning the toss.
“There’s pressure every game you play, especially in the World Cup. Two teams will try to play their best cricket today, hopefully it’ll be exciting. We had an opportunity to launch in the last 10 overs in the last game, but we fell 15 runs short. It’s the same team, gives us a good balance. I was going to bowl first anyway, it’s a good toss to lose,” said South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis.
With only one win and a rain-affected match from their 5 games so far, Pakistan have 3 points and are at the 9th spot in the points table. South Africa, on the other hand, also have 3 points but are placed a spot above Pakistan in the points table because of a better run rate from their 6 games.
Here are the Playing XIs of both the teams:
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed (w/c), Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (w), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis (c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir