Babar Azam’s poor form in white ball cricket continued after scoring a duck in the 1st T20I match against South Africa. The former Pakistan white ball skipper was dismissed for 4-ball 0 edging the ball to deep third man off 18-year-old left-arm pacer Kwena Maphaka. The youngster was recently signed by Rajasthan Royals during IPL 2025 mega auction.
Following yet another failure with the bat, Babar was trolled on social media after failing to score despite good batting conditions. Here’s what fans had to say
SA vs AUS 1st T20I highlights
Allrounder George Linde produced a fantastic display of batting and bowling to help South Africa take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series against Pakistan. South Africa opted to bat first but found themselves in deep trouble at 104-5 in the 12th over.
Their recovery came through a spectacular innings from David Miller who blasted 82 runs off 40 balls, including eight sixes and four boundaries. Linde also contributed handsomely with 48 runs off 24 balls. South Africa posted a total of 183-9.
Pakistan seemed to be saving wickets for a big finish, with opener Mohammad Rizwan anchoring the innings but struggling to accelerate. His slow approach put pressure on his teammates to take risks, and they did. Saim Ayub scored a quickfire 31 runs off 15 balls, and Tayyab Tahir contributed 18 off 18.
Rizwan came alive in the 17th over, he hammered two sixes off Kwena Maphaka one over long-on and the other over long-off. However the 18th over proved to be the turning point of the match. Linde with his left-arm spin dismissed three Pakistan batsmen in just four balls. He thought he had completed a hat trick but was denied when a review showed his delivery had missed Haris Rauf’s leg stump. His 4-21 saw Pakistan’s chase getting derailed and ultimately finishing at 172-8.
