The first of four T20 Internationals between South Africa and Pakistan takes place at The Wanderers on Saturday and we take a look at the squads, form and the all important betting.
Pakistan won the recently concluded ODI series 2-1, winning the decider at Centruion on Wednesday and we now head into the T20's.
Let's start with a look at the squads.
A number of regular Proteas missed the final ODI and headed to the IPL and watch the media for news of the fitness of Temba Bavuma (who was injured in Wednesday's game) and Rassie van der Dussen (who missed the last ODI after picking due to an knock)
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (C), Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Rassie van der Dussen, Janneman Malan, Sisanda Magala, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Pite van Biljon, Migael Pretorius, Lizaad Williams, Wihan Lubbe.
Pakistan are without the injured Shadab Khan and so Fakhar Zaman, who was sensational in the ODI's, will stay on as part of the T20 squad.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (C), Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali, Danish Aziz, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Waseem Jr, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Hasan Ali, Arshad Iqbal, Usman Qadir
Recent T20 Form
The teams met in Pakistan as recently as February and Pakistan won the series 2-1. All the games were staged in Lahore and Pakistan won the first contest by 3 runs before the Proteas squared things up with a 6 wicket victory. Pakistan came out on top in the decider by a 4 wicket margin.
Prior to that Pakistan were in New Zealand in December and they lost a 3 match series 2-1. They completed a 3-0 clean sweep of Zimbabwe in November and they drew 1-1 in England in August / September.
Before the recent tour of Pakistan South Africa hosted England late last year and they lost all 3 matches by margins of 5 wickets, 4 wickets and 9 wickets. Earlier in 2020 the Proteas lost to England and Australia (both 2-1).
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 17 times and South Africa have won 9 to Pakistan's 8.
The most recent head to heads in South Africa came in February 2019 and the Proteas won a 3 match series 2-1.
The Betting, 1st T20 Match Result
South Africa 23/20
Pakistan 7/10
As far as the outright betting to win the series is concerned Pakistan are 14/10 favourites with a tie at 16/10 and the Proteas are 12/5
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict:
There was little between the sides in the recent T20 series staged in Lahore when the Proteas were also very much under strength. To me the Proteas bowling looks reliant on a healthy contingent of spin options (Fortuin, Shamsi and Linde) to prevent the Pakistan batting getting away and that makes the top SA wicket taker market tricky.
Likewise I'm battling to find stand out candidates in the top bat markets with Babar Azam predictable short for the visitors and the team news may affect the Proteas.
The ODI on this ground was high scoring and hence I'll take a chance that the highest number of runs in a single over will be 19 or more and the highest indiviudal score 66 or more.
Bets: Maximum runs in an over.......... over 18.5 at 21/20
Highest individual score …... over 65.5 runs at 17/20
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