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.
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