With his maiden T20I century, Reeza Hendricks gave South Africa their first T20I bilateral series win since August 2022 as the Proteas celebrated a 7-wicket win against Pakistan in the second match at the SuperSport Park. After Pakistan posted a score of 206/5 on the board, South Africa needed something special from their players. With David Miller out of the field, all eyes were on South Africa’s playing XI, and considering who could step in to fill his role. This question remained unanswered until Hendricks arrived to decide the fate of the game. His exploits with the bat gave Rob Walter his first T20I series win since taking over the white-ball coaching role in March 2023.
After being invited to field first, the inexperienced South African line-up managed the fifth-highest first innings score at SuperSport Park, but they achieved it with three balls remaining.
A 157-run partnership between Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen formed the basis of South Africa’s record-breaking target.
While Hendricks went wild and hit sixes for fun, Van der Dussen made Pakistan’s star-studded bowling line-up look ordinary by scoring his seventh T20I half-century.
Chasing the target of 207 runs, South Africa lost the wickets of Ryan Rickelton (2) and Matthew Britzke (12) in the powerplay. As the demand rate began to increase, Hendrix increased the pace and got down to business without breaking a sweat.
The duo led South Africa to victory as Pakistan’s over-reliance on slower balls began to hurt their cause. Hendricks finally edged it to Irfan Khan, before Dussen delivered the ball into the stands to settle the series in style.
Earlier in the match, Pakistan lost their captain Mohammad Rizwan early, forcing Babar Azam and Sam Ayub to approach the South African bowling unit.
The duo took Pakistan to 101/1 after 11 overs, but South Africa found a way back into the mix, courtesy of debutant Dayan Galeem and spinner George Linde.
Both of them bowled together due to which Pakistan was reduced to 136/4 in 16 overs. Ayub and Irfan Khan together scored 73 runs in 32 balls for the fifth wicket, taking the visitors’ total score to 206/5.
With an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, Pakistan and South Africa will face each other in the final match of the T20I leg on Saturday.
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