LAHORE: All-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who is in red hot form lately, is set to become the second Pakistan player to play 100 T20Is for Pakistan, announced the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday. “Mohammad Hafeez will become the second Pakistan player and sixth overall to feature in 100 T20Is when he takes the field against South Africa in first of the four men’s Twenty20 Internationals at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday,” said the PCB in a press release. The 40-year-old after the match will join the likes of Shoaib Malik, Rohit Sharma, Martin Guptill, Eoin Morgan and Ross Taylor. All the players have played more than 100 T20Is since the format was introduced in February 2005. Interestingly, Hafeez was also among the select few players who were part of the team when Pakistan played their inaugural T20I match in August 2006 in Bristol.
The right-handed batsman had also played his 50th T20I against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium back in November 2013. Apart from the 100th T20I, the stylish batsman will be hoping to add another accolade to his name. If he scores 13 runs in the game then he will overtake Shoaib Malik as Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in T20Is. “Shoaib has to date scored 2,335 runs in 116 T20Is, while Hafeez is sixth on the list with 2,323 runs in 99 matches,” said the PCB.
Pakistan will be hoping to carry forward their winning momentum from the ODI series to make a winning start in the four-match series. On the ICC T20I rankings, Pakistan are sitting in fourth place on 260 points while South Africa is sixth on 251 points. England are on top of the tree with 272 points, followed by India (270) and Australia (267). “If Pakistan win all four matches, they will earn four points and move to 264 points to reduce the gap to three points with Australia. However, if the series result in reversed, then both the side will swap places with South Africa rising to fourth on 259 points and Pakistan dropping to sixth on 254 points,” said the PCB. The board said that if the series ends in a draw then Pakistan will maintain their fourth position with 259 points and South Africa will maintain sixth position with 252 points. On a head to head record, South Africa lead Pakistan by 9-8, including 4-3 on their home conditions.
In the ICC T20I Player Rankings, Pakistan captain Babar Azam is the highest-ranked player on either side. The champion batsman is ranked third behind Dawid Malan (England) and Aaron Finch (Australia) but has a chance to narrow the gap with Australia opener whom he trails by 29 points. Rassie van der Dussen is the next high-ranked batsman in seventh position, followed by Hafeez (46th), Mohammad Rizwan (47th) and Fakhar Zaman (50th), while Heinrich Klaasen, who will captain South Africa in the absence of Temba Bavuma is ranked 91st.
In the bowling table, Tabraiz Shamsi will start-off as the number-one ranked bowler, followed by Shaheen Afridi (12th), Faheem Ashraf (19th) and Mohammad Nawaz (64th). Babar Azam will be captaining Pakistan in his sixth series since taking over as T20I captain from Sarfaraz Ahmed in October 2019. His side lost 2-0 to Australia, beat Bangladesh 2-0, drew 1-1 with England, won 3-0 with Zimbabwe, and won 2-1 against South Africa.