Pakistan’s stars stood tall under pressure as fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi’s fiery spell and a timely half-century from Babar Azam powered the hosts to a four-wicket win over South Africa in the third Twenty20 International at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday, sealing a 2-1 series victory.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Chasing 140, Pakistan reached the target in 19 overs, finishing at 140 for six, thanks to Babar’s commanding 68 off 47 balls — his first T20I fifty after 13 innings. The victory came in front of a packed crowd of 32,000 fans, who roared as the former Pakistan captain cracked three consecutive boundaries off Ottneil Baartman to bring up his 37th T20I half-century.Earlier, Shaheen Afridi ripped through South Africa’s top order with a 3 for 26 spell, reducing the visitors to 139 for 9. His double-strike in the very first over — removing Quinton de Kock and Lhuan-dre Pretorius for ducks — left South Africa reeling at 0 for 2. The situation worsened when Dewald Brevis survived an early lbw appeal but was soon dismissed by debutant Usman Tariq, who finished with 2 for 26.
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Reeza Hendricks (34 off 36) and skipper Donovan Ferreira (29 off 14, including three sixes) offered some resistance, adding 34 for the fifth wicket, while Corbin Bosch’s unbeaten 30 helped South Africa post a respectable total.In reply, Pakistan stumbled early with Saim Ayub (0) and Sahibzada Farhan (19) dismissed within seven overs. But Babar Azam and Salman Agha (33) steadied the innings with a 76-run stand for the third wicket. Despite a late wobble after Babar’s dismissal to Bosch, Usman Khan (6 not out) sealed the win with a calm single.Captain Agha praised his team’s resilience after bouncing back from an early series deficit.“I am happy at the come-from-behind series win,” Agha said. “We were 1-0 down, so it was a great effort by the players to win the next two.”South Africa’s Ferreira admitted his side’s batting collapse proved costly.“We lost wickets in clusters and didn’t score much, but credit to the bowlers for keeping it tight,” he said. “It was a great learning for us.”
