ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Match Prediction 2023 | Match 26 | Pakistan vs South Africa – In this World Cup, is it possible for South Africa to defeat Pakistan and continue winning? | Oct, 27
At the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday, Pakistan and South Africa will play in match 26 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. It is anticipated that the contest will start around 1:30 PM IST.
Prior to this game, South Africa had defeated Bangladesh, and Pakistan had suffered a defeat to Afghanistan.
The Green Shirts aim to resume their winning ways when they play South Africa. In this match that needs to be won, Captain Babar Azam will be hoping that the team can play at its very best. However, South Africa will be looking to the top players to perform well in this crucial match.
After defeating Australia, Afghanistan, and the Netherlands to start the tournament well, Pakistan subsequently lost to Australia, India, and Sri Lanka. Among the three consecutive losses, the third one was arguably the worst. That revealed a squad that, in order to have a chance of making the semifinals, really can’t afford to lose again here.
The batsman Mohammad Rizwan, who is easily the team’s top run scorer in the league with 302 runs at an average of 75.50 and a strike rate of 95.87, including one century and one half-century, is a major asset to Pakistan’s batting unit.
This tournament, fast bowlers Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, and Shaheen Afridi have split 26 wickets between them. Afridi has 10 wickets in five games, however if you exclude the five wickets he got in the Australians’ defeat, he only has five in four games. Pakistan is still concerned about his form.
Pakistan Squads
Pakistan
Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Haris Rauf/Muhammad Wasim Jnr, Imam-ul-Haq, Hasan Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, and Iftikhar Ahmed.
South Africa
In this match, Aiden Markram will be hoping the team can maintain its winning streak. South Africa defeated Bangladesh in Mumbai by a score of 149 runs in their previous match. With five games played in the league, South Africa now holds the second spot with eight points after earning convincing victories against Bangladesh and England.
Quinton de Kock, a wicketkeeper-batter from Proteas, is the tournament’s top run scorer overall. In just five innings, he has already amassed 407 runs, including three hundreds. In fact, six of the 19 hundreds scored at this year’s Cricket World Cup have come from South Africa. Heinrich Klaasen, on the other hand, has amassed 288 runs at a remarkable strike rate of 150.78 and an average of 57.60.
Three bowlers for the Proteas have amassed ten wickets apiece in the tournament thus far. Gerald Coetzee, an all-around player, averages more than two wickets per game, and Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, two quick bowlers, have also been reasonably prolific. It’s still unclear if Lungi Ngidi, who is injured, will start in this game.
South Africa Squads
South Africa
Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Lizaad Williams/Tabraiz Shamsi, Heinrich Klaasen, and Kagiso Rabada.
Both teams will be eager to take the field, bowl first, and limit the other side’s run total to under 270. The team batting second has won most of the matches that have been played in Chennai.
The match on Friday is expected to have sunny skies and a light breeze.
The World Cup’s fifth and final game in Chennai will be this one. Whether a new pitch is used will be intriguing to watch. 199, 245, 288, and 282 are the first-inning scores that the ground has produced thus far. It can be worthwhile to use a lot of spin here because Chepauk isn’t always a high-scoring location.
PAK vs SA Head-to-Head Stats of Last 5 Matches
Out of the five matches played thus far, Pakistan has won three, while South Africa has won two.