The spectacular batting from Reeza Hendricks as he scored his first T20I hundred, guiding South Africa to a 7-wicket win over Pakistan (SA vs PAK) in the 2nd T20I at Centurion. This win helped South Africa win their first T20I series since August 2022, ending a long drought. South Africa successfully chased down the third-highest total at SuperSport Park. The highlight to their victory was a massive 157-run partnership between Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen, who scored his seventh T20I fifty.
Pakistan’s innings like a rollercoaster
Pakistan started strong but lost momentum in the middle overs. They managed to post a 200+ score, thanks to two big partnerships: one between Babar Azam and Saim Ayub, and another between Ayub and Irfan Khan. Dayyaan Galiem had an interesting debut for South Africa. He wasn’t originally in the playing XI but got a chance due to Anrich Nortje’s injury. Despite some dropped catches, he took two important wickets and bowled well.
Ayub’s near-century heroics
Saim Ayub played a brilliant innings for Pakistan, scoring 98 not out. He narrowly missed his first T20I century, facing only six balls in the last three overs. Pakistan’s Jahandad Khan, replacing Sufiyan Muqeem, made an immediate impact by taking two quick wickets, putting South Africa in early trouble.
Hendricks’ redemption knock
After being dropped from the ODI squad, Hendricks responded with a superb 117 off 63 balls. His innings, featuring 7 fours and 10 sixes, was crucial in South Africa’s win. This thrilling match showed some great batting performances and had an important series win for South Africa under their white-ball coach, Rob Walter, who took over in 2023.
Reeza Hendricks is happy
“Quite pleased to get three figures. It’s been a while since I reached that milestone, nice to contribute. It’s been a while since we won a series so that’s obviously a very special night. First over, five dots and got away, and so the moment I got that away, things started to click. I’m happy that I found the middle and things worked out in the end.” said Handricks, who was awarded the player of the match.
“One of those nights, the shots I played came off, obviously it was a tactic to target the short boundary (on leg side). (On partnership with Rassie van der Dussen) playing with Rassie back at the Lions, so we kind of know each other, team needed a massive partnership at that time, and it’s always nice to bat with Rassie, he played an unbelievable knock himself” he added.
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