After performing exceptionally well in the first 2 matches, Mohammad Rizwan’s side gave another all-round effort to win the final match of the series by 36 runs, etching their name in history books.

The third ODI saw Saim Ayub score his third century in the format off 94 deliveries. The 22-year-old left-handed batter smashed 13 boundaries and 2 sixes to carry Pakistan to a massive total of 308/9 in an encounter marred by rain.

Senior batters Babar Azam and Rizwan also scored half-centuries while Salman Ali Agha finished the innings strongly for the visitors with his valiant knock of 48 from 33 deliveries.

Young spinner Sufiyan Muqeem gave a highly impressive bowling performance and finished with brilliant figures of 4/52 which helped the visitors bundle out the Proteas for 271 in 42 overs.

For South Africa, Heinrich Klaasen played a fabulous knock of 81 from 43 deliveries and Corbin Bosch also played a valiant cameo of 40, but in the end it wasn’t enough as the Proteas slumped to a third consecutive ODI defeat.

South Africa will now be looking to bounce back from this massive loss in the upcoming 2-match Test series against Pakistan which is set to commence from December 26.

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This was Ayub’s second ton of the series after he had also reached a 3-digit score during the first ODI of the series in Paarl which Pakistan ended up winning by 3 wickets.

With the ton in Johannesburg, Ayub joined an elite list of visiting batters with multiple hundreds in South Africa. He joined the likes of David Warner, Fakhar Zaman and Joe Root, who also have two ODI hundreds in South Africa. Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen and Virat Kohli lead the list with 3 hundreds in 7 and 6 matches respectively.

In a contest which saw the overs get reduced to 47 due to rain interruptions, Ayub went all out and smashed 13 boundaries and 2 sixes in his fantastic knock. His fiery innings propelled Pakistan to a competitive total of 308 runs.

The duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan also played valiant knocks of 52 and 53 respectively. Finally, Salman Ali Agha (48) and Tayyab Tahir (28) also played very important cameos to guide Pakistan to the big total.

South Africa now face the difficult task of chasing the total in Johannesburg. If they aren’t able to do so then Pakistan will complete a remarkable series whitewash over the Proteas.

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With this impressive bowling spell, the pacer completed 100 wickets in the shortest format of the game. Shaheen had already clinched over 100 wickets in both the ODI and Test formats which meant that he became the first-ever player from Pakistan to take 100 wickets in all the 3 formats.

Shaheen became the third Pakistan bowler from his country to complete 100 T20I wickets behind Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan. The left-arm pacer has so far taken 112 wickets in ODIs and 116 scalps in Test cricket.

The 3-wicket haul against South Africa saw Shaheen complete 100 scalps in his 74th match in the shortest format. This made him the second-fastest Pakistan bowler to achieve the feat behind Rauf, who took 71 matches to complete 100 scalps in the format.

Overall, Shaheen became the youngest to achieve the feat and joined the ranks of New Zealand’s Tim Southee, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga.

Coming to the match, Shaheen dismissed the likes of Rassie van der Dussen, Davis Miller and Nqabayomzi Peter to help Pakistan restrict the Proteas to a total of 183/9 in 20 overs.

In reply, Pakistan lost Babar Azam for a duck and the other batters also found it difficult to counter against the South African bowlers. Skipper Mohammad Rizwan played a fine knock of 74 runs, but found no support from the other end as Pakistan finished their 20 overs on 172/8, losing the match by 11 runs.

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If the batter isn’t able to fulfill the expectations laid upon him this time, then Akhtar believes that the path ahead is going to be difficult for him.

“He is our star player and has my backing but with the new management and the new thinking, he will have to show performances. Otherwise, he will not be considered for ODIs and T20Is. Babar needs to be at his best in the Champions Trophy. He will have to score three match-winning hundreds; otherwise, the path is going to be difficult for him,” Akhtar told PTV Sports.

The Men in Green are currently on a tour to Zimbabwe where they have already secure a 2-1 victory in the ODI series and have also won the first T20I. Babar has been rested for the whole series and his next assignment will come in the form of South Africa. Pakistan is set to play 2 Tests, 3 T20Is and ODIs each in their tour to South Africa which will commence from December 10.

Babar was recently replaced by Mohammad Rizwan as Pakistan’s white-vball skipper. The former was reintegrated into Pakistan’s white-ball set-up with the Australia series last month. Though Pakistan did triumph over the Baggy Greens by 2-1 in the ODI series, Babar’s problems didn’t get fully resolved as he scored just 47 runs in the T20Is and 80 runs in the ODI series.

Babar’s last ODI ton came against Nepal in 2023 while in T20Is, he last registered a half-century earlier this year. However, it is in red-ball cricket where good scores have really dried up for Babar as his last ton in Tests came back in 2022 against New Zealand.

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With this knock, Babar surpassed Virat Kohli to become the second-highest run-scorer in the shortest format of the game with 4192 runs. With Kohli having already announced his retirement from T20Is, the closest active player to Babar in terms of T20I runs is Ireland’s Paul Stirling who currently stands on 3655 runs.

Babar is also quite close to surpassing Rohit Sharma’s tally of 4231 runs in the format. The Pakistan batter needs just 39 runs more to become the highest-scorer in T20I history.

Babar has so far played 119 innings in the format, averaging 40.30 with a decent strike rate of 129.22. He has scored a total of 36 fifties and 3 centuries in T20Is. He may have suffered a slump in form in recent times, however his contributions to Pakistan cricket cannot be ignored.

Further down in the list, Babar’s teammate and current Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan also makes an entry. The wicketkeeper-batter currents stands on 7th position with 3329 runs.

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The Men in Green have decided to make 2 big changes to their playing XI for the 3rd T20I as they have brought in wicketkeeper-batter Haseebullah as a replacement to skipper Mohammad Rizwan, who has been rested today.

Pacer Naseen Shah has also been rested for the final encounter and fellow pacer Jahandad Khan has been brought in as his replacement. Salman Ali Agha is set to captain the Men in Green for this match in Rizwan’s absence.

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With the Men in Green having already lost the series with defeats in both the 1st and 2nd match, they decided to rest skipper Mohammad Rizwan for the final match. Replacing him as the captain for the match will be all-rounder Salman Ali Agha.

Surprsingly, Agha was preferred over former Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for the role. However, this move does make sense as Agha is the vice-captain of Pakistan’s T20I team.

The Pakistan team have also decided to rest pacer Naseem Shah for the final T20I and he will be replaced by Jahanded Khan, who is a left-handed pacer. On the other hand, Rizwan will be replaced in the starting XI by wicketkeeper-batter Haseebullah. The rest of the team is the same as what they fielded in the last game.

Pakistan will be looking to avoid a series whitewash to the Baggy Greens who have easily proved to be the more dominant side in the last 2 matches.

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Rizwan made the request to Indian players while addressing the media in Brisbane on Wednesday ahead of the start of Pakistan’s 3-match T20I series against Australia.

“KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav are all welcome. All the players who will come, we will welcome them. This is not our decision, this is PCB’s decision. Whatever decision will take place, hopefully they will all discuss and take the right call. But we are hopeful that if the Indian players will come, we will welcome them,” Rizwan said.

Earlier this week, ICC informed PCB that the BCCI will not let Team India travel to Pakistan in order to participate in the Champions Trophy. PCB then consulted the Pakistan government in a bid to take firm action against India’s stance, with reports hinting that they might even withdraw from the tournament as well.

Various reports have also suggested that the ICC may shift the tournament entirely to South Africa if the PCB do not agree to hold it in hybrid mode. With new developments regarding the tournament coming out almost every day, it is safe to say that the future of the 2025 Champions Trophy hangs in the balance.

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Pacer Shaheen Afridi re-claimed the top spot on the latest ODI bowler rankings. This comes after he picked up 8 wickets in th3 ODI series against Australia at a brilliant average of 12.62.

It saw Afridi move up three places and take the pole position from South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj, who fell down to the third spot. On the other hand, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan remained second. Afridi previously held the number 1 spot on the bowlers ranking midway through last year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India.

Afridi’s teammate Haris Rauf jumped 14 places to 13th overall and reached a new career-high rating following his 10 wickets and Player of the Series heroics against Australia. Another Pakistan pacer, Naseem Shah also went up by 14 places to reach the 55th position.

Afridi’s rise to the top of the bowling charts means that Pakistan now have the top-ranked player in both batting and bowling in ODI cricket, with former skipper Babar Azam increasing his lead at the top of the batter charts following his total of 80 runs in the Australia series.

On the other hand, new skipper Mohammad Rizwan also made gains on the list for ODI batters and reached the 23rd position following his 74 runs in Australia.

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1. MS Dhoni (India) – 13 scores

The former Indian skipper played some brilliant Test innings in SENA countries. Averaging at 31.47, Dhoni scored 1731 runs in a total of 60 innings on SENA pitches.

2. Rishabh Pant (India) – 8 scores

The Indian wicketkeeper has proved to be incredible with the bat in Tests especially in SENA countries. So far, Pant has played 39 Test innings on SENA pitches, scoring 1426 runs with a fabulous batting average of 39.61.

3. Dinesh Chandimal (Sri Lanka) – 7 scores

The Sri Lankan wicketkeeper has been a valuable asset with the bat for his team in Tests in SENA countries. So far, Chandimal has played 26 innings in which he has scored a total of 831 runs, averaging 33.24 on SENA pitches.

4. Farokh Engineer (India) – 7 scores

The wicketkeeper-batter who represented India in Test cricket during the 60s and 70s, played some fine innings as an opener. Engineer played a total of 17 matches and 33 innings in SENA countries.

5. Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan) – 7 scores

The Pakistan wicketkeeper has proved to be quite influential for his side with the bat in Tests held in SENA countries. With a fantastic average of 45.81, Rizwan has scored 733 runs in a total of 9 Tests and 16 innings on SENA pitches.

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