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Pakistan have made it to the semi-final of the ongoing Hong Kong Sixes tournament after defeating South Africa by 18 runs during the quarter final match at the Mission Road Ground on Saturday.
Batting first, the Green Shirts had a shaky start to their innings as their in-form batters Asif Ali and Faheem perished for a golden duck in the first over with just eight runs on the board.
Back-to-back wickets did not deter the national side as Muhammad Akhlaq, during his partnership with Hussain Talat, launched an astounding recovery with belligerent hitting.
The wicket-keeper batter smashed the Proteas bowlers for seven sixes and two fours and brought up his half-century in just 16 deliveries.
Soon after amassing the milestone, Akhlaq retired out at 53*, putting Pakistan in a dominant position as they were 66-2 in four overs.
All-rounder Aamer Yamin and Talat then gave the final touches to Pakistan’s innings with blistering cameos. Yamin scored 18 off six, while Talat scored an unbeaten 27 off 11 balls.
Courtesy of them, the Men in Green managed to put on a formidable total of 105-3 in the given six overs.
Chasing a daunting 104-run target, South Africa only managed to score 88-4 despite Evan Jones’ blitz.
The five-time champions had a shaky start to the pursuit as they lost two wickets including their captain JJ Smuts inside two overs with just 12 runs on the board.
Jones then joined forces with Modiri Litheko and pushed to anchor the run chase with a crucial 48-run partnership for the fourth wicket until Talat drew curtains on his fighting knock.
Jones remained the top-scorer for South Africa with a 13-ball 41, laced with one four and five sixes.
Talat struck again on the next delivery to reduce the former champions to 61-4 in 4.3 overs.
The back-to-back dismissals halted the flow of runs for South Africa and they eventually came up 18 runs short.
For Pakistan, Talat bagged two wickets, while Shahab Khan and Yamin made one scalp each.
The Faheem Ashraf-led side is unbeaten in the ongoing edition of the Hong Kong Super Sixes. They started their campaign with a 13-run victory over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before humbling arch-rivals India by six wickets.
The tournament’s semi-finals and final will be played on Sunday (tomorrow).
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