Hyderabad: The mighty South African team, which is currently in the second spot in the points table, would look to crush a listless Pakistan during the two teams face-off in the league fixture of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup here on Friday. South Africa has not won against Pakistan since the 1999 World Cup. In fact, South Africa and Pakistan have faced each other on two occasions in the 2015 and 2019 World Cup where Pakistan has beaten Proteas on both occasions.
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In the 2015 World Cup, Pakistan clinched a thrilling 29-run win over South Africa at the World Cup. In a chase of 232 runs, highly-rated Proteas was bundled out for 202 despite captain AB de Villiers' valiant 77 to win in a rain-affected game at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. Pakistan's pace attack comprising Sohail Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz took all the 10 wickets to help the team win. In the 2019 World Cup, while defending the target of 309 runs, Wahab Riaz took three wickets to help Pakistan restrict South Africa to 259/9. Captain Faf du Plessis's 63 runs innings went in vain as no other batter scored a 50. This was the second instance where Pakistan defeated South Africa in World Cups.
However, South Africa also defeated Pakistan on three occasions, including the 1999 World Cup. Proteas have beaten them in 1992, 1996 and 1999 World Cups. But the most interesting part is that South Africa has batted second in the last four outings in World Cups while they have batted first only once in the 1992 World Cup.
Currently, in the 2023 World Cup, South Africa has proved itself as a potential title-winning unit with a string of extraordinary performances. They has won four matches demolishing Australia, England, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on their way losing only against the Netherlands. Pakistan started its campaign with a bang but has lost three consecutive matches against India, Australia and Afghanistan.
