Pakistan v South Africa (Pak v SA): Super Eights, Preview, Live Streaming, Videos, Highlights of ICC World T20 2010

Live streaming options for the ICC World T20 game between Pakistan and South Africa at the end of the article. Preview follows…

Pakistan play South Africa in a rather strange match-up that will decide who goes through to the semi-finals of the ICC World T20. The match will be played at St. Lucia, and so Pakistan may get a respite from the bouncy pitch conditions while the South African bowlers may not enjoy the conditions as much, having lost to India here as well.

The strange bit is not the inconsistencies that Pakistan has shown in the tournament, it is their consistency and South Africa’s inconsistency! Pakistan have lost all the games except the one against Bangladesh (who have lost 12 successive T20Is), while South Africa lost their first game, won their second, won their third and lost their fourth one again, to leave themselves with a rather strange win-loss record.

To set the record straight, if Pakistan loses, they are out of the tournament. That will mean, based on the result of the game between England and New Zealand, two out of England, SA and NZ will go through. However, if Pakistan beats South Africa, and England beats New Zealand, then England will go through to the semi-finals with three wins, whereas there will be a tie for the second place between NZ, Pakistan and SA. In this scenario, Pakistan will go through given that their run-rate will continue to remain better than the rest.

Team News:

Pakistan had made a few changes to their playing eleven, and that assisted them in getting close to the New Zealanders, but they could not go the distance. Despite the battling half century, Salman Butt has been panned by the critics, who thought that he shouldn’t have taken the single in the last over and given the other batsman the strike. However, the issue, to me was that none of the other batsmen could get going, chasing such a small total.

The bowling has been patchy, but it did seem to help that Mohammad Asif was out of the side, and so was Fawad Alam, and they brought in Abdur Rahman to the fold. One gets the feeling that given the close nature of the contest and the fact that the pitch at St. Lucia would assist the spin bowlers, it is going to be only fair to expect the side to not make any bowling changes. The batting line-up and the order could be a different thing altogether.

For South Africa, the loss to England would hurt. They have been losing the games to England so regularly that they need to do something to arrest the slide. However, for this game against Pakistan, the side will need to bat much better than they have; against India they collapsed, as did they against England, whereas the game they won was against New Zealand, which they did thanks to Albie Morkel’s strong hitting in the last few overs. The likes of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis could do well to score a tad quicker than they have been doing so far, or face the risk of being elimination, given than New Zealand could end up beating England.

Head-to-Head:

Pakistan and South Africa faced each other in the semi-finals of the 2009 edition of the ICC World T20 and Shahid Afridi had single-handedly knocked them out of the tournament. Unfortunately, Pakistan has been struggling to do the same in this tournament, and to beat South Africa could take a lot more than it had in the previous semi-final.

The Odds Checker:

The bookies will not take into account the manner in which the Pakistanis fluctuate like a pendulum, and so South Africa go into the game as huge favourites; Ladbrokes offers 8/13 for their win, as compared to 7/5 at Sporting Bet if Pakistan wins.

To watch the ICC World T20, 2010 match between Pakistan and South Africa on television, you can tune in to Star Cricket.

To watch the live streaming of the ICC World T20, 2010 match between Pakistan and South Africa, online, you can go to ESPNStar.com.

You can also watch the highlights and videos of the ICC World T20, 2010 match between Pakistan and South Africa here.

Related posts:

1. England v South Africa (Eng v SA): Super Eights, Preview, Live Streaming, Videos, Highlights of ICC World T20 2010
2. Pakistan v New Zealand (Pak v NZ): Super Eights, Preview, Live Streaming, Videos, Highlights of ICC World T20 2010
3. South Africa v New Zealand (SA v NZ): Super Eights, Preview, Live Streaming, Videos, Highlights of ICC World T20 2010
4. England v Pakistan (Eng v Pak): Super Eights, Preview, Live Streaming, Videos, Highlights of ICC World T20 2010
5. India v Australia (Ind v Aus): Super Eights, Preview, Live Streaming, Videos, Highlights of ICC World T20 2010

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Posted by Sam on May 10 2010. Filed under Match Highlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry