Pakistan will aim to bounce back from their humiliating defeat against India when they take on South Africa in their penultimate Champions Trophy clash at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground here on Wednesday.
A spot in the semi-final could be sealed if AB de Villiers' South Africa manages to beat Pakistan in the last day-night game of the 2017 Champions Trophy at Birmingham on June 7.
Fakhar's inclusion, in place of the dropped Ahmed Shehzad, added variety to an otherwise all right-handed Pakistan top order. The mental aspect is the only thing they need to worry about as other than that, South Africa has a batting lineup that is firing and a bowling unit which is doing its best in every game. He along with his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan (65) scored 136 runs for the first wicket. "We don't understand when to bowl our variations".
However, today's match will be equally important for both Pakistan and South Africa.
The spinners choked the Proteas in the beginning with three strikes and later the pacemen pulled the rug from under South Africa's feet with fiery spells. "Morale is high", Sarfraz said at the toss.
Wahab has been ruled out of the remainder of the Champions Trophy tournament with an ankle injury and was replaced in the squad by Rumman Raees.
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On a sunny Court Philippe Chatrier, she lobbed Garcia from the back of the court to give herself two match points. Djokovic was left on his knees, and soon he would be out of the tournament entirely.
"We just played a series against England now with a couple of spinners in at wrist-spinner, also finger-spinner". "We are confident going into this game, without being arrogant or over-confident". Four to five players who faced India for the first time might have felt some pressure but we tried to pull them out of the gloom. We've told them to play without feeling any pressure.
Sarfraz, when asked if there would be any team changes for the match against South Africa, practically confirmed his starting line-up instead of keeping his cards close to his chest.
Junaid took four for 73 in a warm-up match against Bangladesh.
Imad Wasim's early two victims - Amla and Proteas skipper AB de Villiers - set the ball rolling for the green side and it seemed to be a downhill for South Africa from there on.
Given totals of 300 are now generally regarded as "par" in ODI cricket, Pakistan were clearly on top at the innings break.
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