Pakistan will be up against South Africa in the second of the three-match T20I series. This article provides details about Pakistan’s Playing 11 vs South Africa for the second match of the series.
Pakistan Playing XI vs South Africa- 2nd T20I, South Africa Tour of Pakistan 2025:
Openers: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub
Pakistan would look to bounce back after a disappointing loss in the first of three T20Is against South Africa when they take the field in the next game to have a chance of winning it.
The Salman Ali Agha-led side would be confident of doing so, given Pakistan’s good record against South Africa at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the ground which is going to host the second T20I.
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The home team has won two out of the three games they have played against South Africa at this particular venue, while the Proteas have got the better of Pakistan on one occasion.
All three PAK vs SA T20I games played here so far were a part of the three-match T20I series that the two sides played in 2021.
The team management and the captain will have to decide if they would want to make any changes to the team for the upcoming game, which seems highly unlikely, given that the series is just one match old.
Pakistan is expected to go with the same playing XI that featured in the first T20I, and hope for a better show in all three disciplines.
Pakistan, in all likelihood, will open the batting with Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub and would back the pair to get the team off to a good start.
Individually as well, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub would look to convert the start that they get into a match-winning knock.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Babar Azam, Salman Agha (c), Usman Khan (wk), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf,
The opening pair will be followed by a middle order that failed miserably while chasing a target of 195 runs in the first T20I.
The middle order, which included names like Babar Azam, Salman Agha, Usman Khan, and Hasan Nawaz, appeared to be clueless against some good bowling by the South African bowlers.
This middle order of the home team will have to take responsibility and come good in the next game for the team to have any chance of putting on a fight with the bat.
The onus will be on the top five batters to score the bulk of the runs for the team while batting first or while chasing.
Bowlers: Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed
As far as the bowling lineup is concerned, it was the fast bowlers who leaked runs at the start and at the backend of the innings, with experienced fast bowler Shaheen Afridi going for plenty in the 17th over, which changed the momentum.
Afridi would want to put on a much-improved performance in the second game of the series as compared to what he did in the previous match.
Afridi’s bowling partner Nasem Shah made a good comeback in his third over after being expensive in his first couple of overs, which played a vital role in restricting South Africa to a score of less than 200 runs.
Naseem would want to do more of the same with the new ball in the second T20I to restrict the opposition to a below-par total.
Amidst the carnage in the first six overs, the spinners did their job by pulling things back in the middle phase of the innings, with Mohammad Nawaz being the pick of the bowlers along with Saim Ayub, and they would look to keep up the good work.