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2023 Cricket World Cup
One Day International Format
Pakistan v South Africa
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
Chennai, India
Friday, 27 October 2023
South Africa will continue their quest for
World Cup glory when they take on Pakistan at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday, October 27.
The Proteas picked up their fourth win in the tournament as they breezed past Bangladesh by 149 runs on October 24 to move up to second in the points table.
Rob Walter's side batted first in Mumbai and they dismantled the opposition bowlers, with Quinton de Kock (174) and Heinrich Klaasen (90) putting on a phenomenal hitting display to help them reach 382/5.
Only Mahmudullah (111) offered any resistance in reply for the Tigers, who were dismissed for 233 in the 47th over as nine of their 11 batters failed to even reach 20.
Gerald Coetzee was quite expensive with the ball, although he took the most wickets for South Africa (3/62) for the second game in succession despite an economy rate of 6.20 from his 10 overs.
De Kock's innings was the highest of the 2023 Cricket World Cup and he leads the charts for the most runs scored with 407, while Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Coetzee have taken 10 wickets each.
Aiden Markram, who deputised for Temba Bavuma once more against Bangladesh, revealed that the Proteas batters haven't been following a set blueprint despite scoring the top-three totals in the tournament, including a record 428 against Sri Lanka.
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"I think it goes without saying that you obviously do need wickets in hand, but we haven't spoken about a blueprint as a unit. It's actually been quite a strange build-up the last two months or maybe slightly longer now," Markram said.
"No definitive roles given, but everyone kind of knows now what they need to do to help this batting unit peak at their best. So there isn't necessarily a blueprint, but guys understand how to approach it - a big focus on playing conditions and not necessarily situations too much.
"We keep saying to look down at the surface and not up at the scoreboard, and play exactly what's in front of us on the pitch."
Pakistan are in danger of failing to qualify for the knockout stages after winning just two of their opening five matches in India.
Their shock defeat to Afghanistan on October 23 was the Falcons' third loss on the spin and they have some work to do to knock one of India, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia out of the top four.
Grant Bradburn's side were restricted to 282/7 in their innings, with five batters getting starts and Abdullah Shafique (58) and Babar Azam (74) converting their scores into half-centuries.
They were poor with the ball, however, and took just two wickets as Afghanistan reached 286/2 with one over to spare.
Azam admits they have struggled to excel with the bat and ball at the same time and was critical of the team's fielding against their neighbours.
"We are not able to click in all departments at the same time," he said. "When we do well in bowling, we don't do well in batting. When we do well in batting, we don't do as well in fielding.
"Fielding is all about attitude. And I don't see any attitude from the team. You need to put in extra effort and be fit. You should focus on the ball, not on other thoughts and when the ball comes to you, you have to be proactive as a fielder. I think we are lacking that a little bit as a fielding unit.
"In the bowling, we have not been able to execute our plans. When you are not able to hit the length you want to and end up conceding boundaries, your focus shifts to stopping runs. In that, you keep making mistakes, and that puts you under pressure."
Head-to-Head (ODI)
Matches - 82
Pakistan - 30
South Africa - 51
Draws - 0
No result - 1
ODI World Rankings
2 - Pakistan
3 - South Africa
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