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Klaasen and Rizwan fight Photograph: (Source-X)
Pakistan cricket team secured their third successive ODI series with an 81-run win over South Africa. Mohammad Rizwan and his side won the series after their dominating performance with the bat and ball against the hosts in Cape Town on Thursday. The Men in Green had beaten Australia and Zimbabwe prior to winning the series against the Proteas.
On the final ball of the 26th over, Haris Rauf bowled a short ball outside off-stump that Heinrich Klaasen decided to leave. The batter wasn’t impressed with something as he exchanged a few words with the bowler. Someone from the Pakistani camp could be heard telling Klaasen to ‘Shut up and play’ as the fielders were getting ready for changeover.
Klaasen and rizwan fight from stump mic pic.twitter.com/MFhs14w60l
— Mian (@CivilSupremecy) December 20, 2024
That’s when Rizwan and Klaasen were called together by the umpire, but the matter began to escalate even more. South African star Heinrich Klaasen was seen getting angrier as Babar Azam stepped in to cool down the situation. The former Pakistan skipper’s arrival meant that the situation didn’t get out of hand as play resumed.
South Africa undone by brilliance from Pakistani batters and bowlers
Temba Bavuma won the toss and put Pakistan into bat as the visitors ended up scoring 329 on the board. Former skipper Babar Azam scored 73 runs from 95 balls, while skipper Mohammad Rizwan was the top scorer with 80 off 82 balls. Kamran Ghulam then took the attack to the home team with his 32-balls 63 which contained four boundaries and 5 sixes.
Needing 330 runs to win the game and square the series, South Africa kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Heinrich Klaasen was the best batter for the hosts with his knock of 97, which came off 74 balls with 8 fours and 4 maximums. With the hosts finding momentum with the bat, Rizwan turned to Shaheen Shah Afridi.
The 24-year-old didn’t let down his skipper as he dismissed David Miller, Andile Phelukwayo, and Marco Jansen in 3 successive overs. The left-arm got his 4th wicket when he had Kwena Maphaka caught by Rizwan to end with 4/47 from his 9 overs. Naseem Shah dismissed Klaasen as Pakistan romped home to an easy series win with a match left to play.