After a disastrous series of matches, specially the ODIs and T20Is, Pakistan commences its tour of South Africa for a 2-matches T20Is and 3-matches ODI series of South Africa.
The first of the two T20Is is scheduled for Wednesday today at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.
The pitch at Wanderers has a reputation for bounce and carry, but has also provided some the best surfaces for the batsmen too. It has a fairly even record in T20Is with the team batting first. Of the 20 matches played, nine teams electing to bat first won.
The South Africans will have no problem adjusting to their home fields as they quickly overcome the heat of Dubai and won almost all the matches against Pakistan. Having just beaten Pakistan 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa have another chance to build toward a balanced side ahead of the World T20 in Bangladesh next year.
It remains to be seen whether Pakistan is able to recover from the debacle after debacle they suffered at Dubai and make amends. But they have injuries which will keep Irfan, Shoaib Malik and Razzaq away - while Wahab has been dropped.
Squads:
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq*, Mohammad Hafeez*, Abdur Rehman, Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Bilawal Bhatti, Junaid Khan, Nasir Jamshed, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Sohaib Maqsood, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal†, Umar Amin
South Africa: F du Plessis*, HM Amla, H Davids, Q de Kock†, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, R McLaren, DA Miller, M Morkel, WD Parnell, AM Phangiso, DW Steyn, LL Tsotsobe, D Wiese
Umpires JD Cloete and S George
The match is scheduled for November 20 at Johannesburg at 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT)
If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favourite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below: