Pakistan’s Babar Azam won the toss and put Temba Bavuma-led South Africa to bowl first in the high-octane 26th match of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup match played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India.

Both sides had started off their 2023 World Cup campaigns in similar fashion. Both sides won their first two matches by convincing margins before losing their third quite spectacularly.

While Pakistan lost to arch-rivals and table toppers India, South Africa fell to the Netherlands in what is still arguably the biggest upset of the tournament. Since then though, the trajectories of the two sides couldn’t be more different. South Africa responded by beating England by 229 runs and Bangladesh by 149 runs.

For Pakistan, though, the wheels seem to have come off. They then lost to Australia by 62 runs and Afghanistan by eight wickets.

All this means that South Africa are arguably one win away from all but cementing their place in the final four while Pakistan are currently placed sixth.

The Proteas are two points adrift of the top four and even the biggest of wins today will only help them draw level with fourth-placed Australia. That two-point gap, of course, can open up again if Australia win their next game as the five-time World Cup champions will have a game in hand on Pakistan after the end of today’s match.

South Africa have picked up from where England left off in the last World Cup. Their batting line-up, led by Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen, have rewritten quite a few World Cup records and that has resulted in their net run rate going through the roof. South Africa have an NRR of +2.370, the next best are currently New Zealand and theirs stands at +1.481.

South Africa Playing XI: Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi

Pakistan Playing XIs: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf 

-with inputs from agencies