Pakistan tailend batsmen Zulqarnain Haider and Wahab Riaz pulled off a sensational one-wicket win for their team over South Africa in the fourth one-day international after Younis Khan’s half-century on Friday.
Younis’ sedate 73 built Pakistan’s run-chase, but they owed it to their tailenders Haider (19 not out) and Riaz (18) as they put on 28 runs for the ninth wicket to help their team chase down a challenging 275-run target.
Fit-again Graeme Smith played a captain’s knock of 92 to steer South Africa to a challenging 274-6, but once again his team choked in the final moments despite having grabbed all the top wickets.
PHOTO: AFP
Pakistan still needed 31 when they lost Abdul Razzaq (33) — whose robust 72-ball 109 not out had shocked South Africa by one wicket in the second match in Abu Dhabi — but Haider and Riaz held their nerve.
Even when Riaz was run out with three needed off as many deliveries, Haider kept his cool, scoring two off paceman Wayne Parnell and then pulling the penultimate delivery for a single, much to the delight of a 25,000 capacity crowd.
The win helped Pakistan level the series at 2-2 and set up an intriguing fifth and final match tomorrow.
Younis, whose half-century with only one boundary put Pakistan on course for a tight run-chase, added 58 for the second wicket with Mohammad Hafeez (42) and 56 with Asad Shafiq (36).
So cautious was Younis that his first boundary came in the 37th over, but he kept Pakistan on course with another 49 for the sixth wicket with Razzaq, before paceman Morne Morkel dismissed both to finish with 3-48.
Captain Shahid Afridi also bolstered the run-chase with a swift 25-ball 29, studded with four boundaries.
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis praised his team’s fighting ability.
“One should praise the game, it was a hell of a match and all praise to the boys who showed great fighting ability, especially Younis, who batted well and the tailenders, who kept us in the hunt,” Waqar said.
Earlier, Smith missed his ninth one-day century by just eight runs on his return after injuring his hand during South Africa’s eight-wicket win in the first match in Abu Dhabi.
South Africa took a 2-1 lead with a narrow two-run win in the third match on Tuesday.
Smith put on a 94-run stand with A.B. de Villiers (49) to put South African on course for a big total, before he was trapped leg before wicket by off-spinner Hafeez in the 31st over.
De Villiers then took charge along with J.P. Duminy (36) as South Africa added 84 in the last 10 overs. De Villiers’ 70-ball knock was without a boundary, but he batted sensibly after Smith’s departure.
Smith said his team put up a good total, but did not bowl well.
“A total of 274 was good,” Smith said. “We needed to bowl decently, but we didn’t and gave the momentum to Pakistan, and in the end we had a chance to win, but it didn’t come about.”
Paceman Riaz briefly put the brakes on the South Africa innings by dismissing Duminy and David Miller (0) off successive deliveries, but Colin Ingram (27 not out) and Johan Botha (28 not out) lifted the total in the last five overs.
The two added an invaluable 54 runs in the batting power-play.
It was Smith who gave the South Africa innings the required pace, putting on 35 for the first wicket with Hashim Amla (10), before Shoaib Akhtar removed Amla in the seventh over. Smith paced the innings with three boundaries off Riaz in the 15th over, before completing his 42nd half-century off 57 balls.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB