Pakistan face SA in first ODI today

PORT ELIZABETH: After being comprehensively beaten in the Test series, Pakistan look for a change in fortunes when they meet South Africa at Port Elizabeth, where they sealed their first-ever away series win over the hosts in 2013, for the first of the five ODIs on Saturday.

Sarfraz Ahmed believes that batting first and posting hefty totals will be the key to success. Like it’s been the case in Tests, Pakistan have also suffered batting meltdowns in the 50-over format in the recent past.

“It is necessary to get runs while batting in the first innings. If a touring team is able to do that, they win matches,” Sarfraz said on the eve of the first ODI. “Four of our five matches are day/night encounters. The teams prefer to bat first here, like India did [last year], as, it gets difficult to bat under lights.” After being dropped from the playing XI for the third Test due to his failure in the first two, Fakhar Zaman will be under the focus during the ODI series. Since his debut for Pakistan against South Africa in the group stages of the ICC Champions Trophy, Zaman has been his side’s top run getter with 1,275 runs at 59.95 runs per dismissal. Pakistan, who have struggled to find batsmen that can score at a brisk rate in 50-over cricket, rely on his firepower in the early phase of their innings to lay profound platforms for the middle-order batsmen.

“Fakhar Zaman is a very important player for us and his target is to play his natural game,” Sarfraz commented, “which is quite similar to how David Warner plays or how Virender Sehwag or Shahid Afridi played in the past. I have told him that he needs to stay at the wicket more because his presence scares the bowlers.”

Pakistan, like every other side, have their World Cup plans in mind when they jot down their playing XI. After Shan Masood confronted the South African pace attack in seaming conditions audaciously, he was included in the ODI squad for this series. But, with Pakistan having opened with Zaman and Imam ul Haq, who scores over 63 per dismissal, and with Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik placed firmly at their spots, it remains to be seen whether Masood gets a match.

Veteran batsman Malik feels that sticking with the current lot of players consistently in both the batting and the bowling department will be the key for Pakistan ahead of the mega event. above 48 with the bat in 14 ODIs in South Africa.

“It’s all about turning up on the given day and performing but as far as preparations go, we are up for the series. Consistency is important in, both, batting and bowling and that is going to be once again our goal in the upcoming series.”