South Africa vs Pakistan – 2nd One-Day International Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
When is South Africa vs Pakistan taking place? Sunday, April 2nd, 2021 – 09:00 (UK)
Where is South Africa vs Pakistan taking place? The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
What is the expected weather for South Africa vs Pakistan? 24c with sunshine and cloudy intervals
What channel is South Africa vs Pakistan on? The match will be televised live on Sky Sports
Where can I stream South Africa vs Pakistan? The match can be streamed live on the SkyGo app
LAST MEETING
Pakistan beat South Africa by 3 wickets
THE TEAM NEWS
SOUTH AFRICA
- South Africa come into this second ODI down in the series but despite their poor start to the first game, they will take enough positives from that game to know they should perform significantly better here.
- The hosts found themselves four down with just 55 on the board in the 15th over but Rassie van der Dussen’s unbeaten 123 from 134 balls laid the foundations for a competitive 273/6 but the rest of their top order will be desperate to do better here.
- Anrich Nortje was the star man and the one bowler who caused the Pakistani batsmen enough problems to spark some alarm to the tourists in the run chase and but similarly they will look for more contributions from the rest of the attack in what is expected to be an unchanged team.
PAKISTAN
- Pakistan will have been delighted with their performance in the opening ODI as they held their nerve to secure what should have been a far more comfortable run chase as Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam were outstanding in their match-winning partnership of 177.
- Despite the win, the tourists will still want to improve on various aspects of their play with their middle order of debutant Danish Aziz and Asif Ali only contributing three and two runs respectively and the latter’s position could be under threat from Haider Ali.
- Having the sixth bowling option in Danish Aziz should keep him in the side and they will want to be patient with the 25-year-old as they look to seal the series at the first attempt of asking in Johannesburg.
THE PREDICTION
All the talk at the start of this series was about South Africa trying to kill this series in two games before several of their key men depart for the IPL yet they find themselves one down as the series moves to The Wanderers. Not enough of their players performed in the first game with only Van der Dussen, Nortje and perhaps David Miller coming out of the game with any real credit whereas the tourists simply have more of their players contributing to the win. The end result and climax to the first ODI was far closer than the game was for the most part as Pakistan were far better but the hosts will surely produce a reaction here. The likes of De Kock, Markram and Bavuma will be under pressure to perform and they still have the better eleven on paper, so the hosts are preferred to bounce back here and level the series.
