Opener Saim Ayub was left stranded two runs short of a well-deserved hundred during the second T20I between South Africa and Pakistan in Centurion. Ayub scored an unbeaten 98 off just 57 balls to help Pakistan finish on a strong total.
However, there was an incident during the game when Abbas Afridi denied a request from Ayub to leave him stranded on 98. After the fourth ball of the last over of Pakistan’s innings, Saim Ayub, who was at the non-striker’s end, was heard telling the striker Abbas Afridi to take a single off the next ball.
“Oye ab single le le (Just take a single now),” said Ayub. However, Abbas didn’t entertain Ayub’s request and smashed a four off the next ball. It was a full ball outside off stump and Afridi threw his hands to get an outside edge over short third man. With just one ball remaining in the innings, Ayub’s chances of reaching a hundred went significantly down.
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Watch: Abbas Afridi denies Saim Ayub’s request to leave him stranded on 98
Saim Ayub had just a minor chance of getting to a hundred only when it would have been wide on the final ball. However, Ottniel Baartman bowled a legitimate delivery which resulted in a single.
Ayub fell just two runs short of a century but he was successful in taking Pakistan to a massive first-innings score of 206-5 in 20 overs. He struck 11 fours and 5 sixes during his knock. Abbas Afridi played a fiery cameo of 11 runs from 4 balls.
Saim Ayub unfortunate not to register a hundred
Interestingly, Saim Ayub was quite unfortunate not to have reached a hundred. The opener didn’t get to play a single ball in the last nine balls of Pakistan’s innings. But he had done his job by playing a magnificent knock.
Meanwhile, Pakistan reached 206-5 on the back of Saim Ayub’s wonderful knock of 98. Babar Azam and Irfan Khan too played crucial cameos of 31 and 30 respectively as Pakistan seemed ahead at the end of the first innings.
Reeza Hendricks fires for South Africa
Chasing a massive score, South Africa started poorly and lost the first two wickets with just 28 runs on the board. But Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen stitched a brilliant partnership of 157 runs for the third wicket to put South Africa ahead.
Hendricks scored a match-winning 117 off just 63 balls and struck 7 fours and 10 sixes during his knock. On the other hand, Rassie van der Dussen scored 66 off 38 balls and remained unbeaten till the end.
South Africa chased down the score in the last over with three balls to spare. It was a poor day in the office for Pakistan’s bowlers. With this win, South Africa took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.
