FAISALABAD, Nov 8: Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed flummoxed inexperienced batters of South Africa with career-best 4-27 and led Pakistan to series-clinching seven-wicket victory in the third and final ODI on Saturday.
South Africa, which finally won its first toss on the tour of Pakistan after losing seven-in-a-row across formats, was bowled out for 143 in 37.5 overs, losing its last eight wickets for just 37 runs.
Opening batter Saim Ayub then hit a belligerent 77 with 11 fours and a six that carried Pakistan to 144-3 in just 25.1 overs for a 2-1 victory in the series.
Pakistan won the first game narrowly by two wickets and South Africa bounced back with the help of Quinton de Kock’s unbeaten century to win the second game by eight wickets in Faisalabad, which hosted its first international games after 17 years.
South Africa drew the two-test series 1-1, but Pakistan fought back to beat the Proteas 2-1 in the T20 series with back-to-back wins in Lahore.
Ahmed spins out Proteas
The left-handed opening pair of de Kock and Lhuan-dre Pretorius gave South Africa its third successive 70-plus start before the Proteas got strangled against the spinners on a tricky wicket.
The pair started cautiously against Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi’s left-arm pace and off-spinner Ayub before cutting lose against fast bowler Haris Rauf.
Rauf, who returned after serving two-match ban for violating ICC code of conduct during the Asia Cup in late September, was smashed for three boundaries in his first over and de Kock got his first runs with two back-to-back boundaries against Afridi as the pair put on 72 runs.
Off-spinner Salman Ali Agha provided the breakthrough when he had Pretorius caught at long-on for 39 and shortly afterwards Tony de Zorzi chipped away an easy catch at extra cover.
De Kock became the second-fastest South African batter to complete 7,000 ODI runs in 158 innings after Hashim Amla and raised his half century with a reverse sweep against the left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz.
However, only two balls later he tried to slog sweep Nawaz and was out lbw for 53 off 70 balls that triggered a spectacular South African collapse.
Abrar picked up three wickets in his two overs as he beat debutant Rubin Hermann with a googly and clean bowled the left-hander; knocked back the leg stump around the legs of Donovan Ferreira and then hit the off stump of Corbin Bosch of a delivery that kept very low.
South Africa batters paid heavily for going onto the backfoot against the spinners as Bjorn Fortuin was out plumb leg before wicket against Nawaz, who finished with 2-31.
Afridi then finished off tailenders with two wickets in two balls as South Africa, playing without seven front-line white-ball players in the ODI series, got bowled out with more than 12 overs to spare. (AP)
BRIEF Scores
SA: 143 (37.5 Overs)
(Quniton de Kock 53,
Lhuan-dre Pretorius 39;
Abrar Ahmed 4/27,
Shaheen Afridi 2/18,
Salman Agha 2/18,
Mohammad Nawaz 2/31)
PAk: 144/3 (25.1 Overs)
(Saim Ayub 77,
Mohammad Rizwan 32*;
Nandre Burger 1/29,
Bjorn Fortuin 1/34).
