South Africa rout Pakistan in first T20

CAPE TOWN: Pakistan failed to achieve the 193-run target against South Africa Friday night in the T20 series opener here as they bagged only 186 runs, Geo News reported.Earlier, Pakistan had wo the toss and opted to bowl against South Africa, and at the end of the inning, Faf Du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks helped the Proteas score 192.After missing out on winning the one-day international (ODI) series, Pakistan wants to bounce back in the T20 series with the first match at Newlands. Pakistan are ranked first in the game's shortest format while South Africa are fifth. A force to be reckoned with, Pakistan have won 11 T20I series in a row. Their last defeat in a bilateral T20I series came against New Zealand back in January 2016.On the other hand, South Africa's T20 form of late hasn't been nearly as impressive. They have won nine out of 16 T20Is since the last World Cup, though four of them have come against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at home.Pakistan is without the services of regular skipper Sarfraz Ahmed once again, who is serving a four-match ban after breaching ICC's anti-racism code. In his absence, Shoaib Malik is leading the team.The men in green have an explosive opening combination in Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam, with Malik in the middle order. A high-scoring encounter can be expected between the two sides as Newlands has seen big scores over the past few T20Is with a number of them chased down.

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