Pakistan clinched a thrilling 29-run over South Africa at the World CUPASASGAR
Auckland: BY ASGHAR ALI MUBARAK 
Pakistan clinched a thrilling 29-run over South Africa at the World Cup on Saturday to put themselves on course for the quarter-finals. Pakistan clinches a close victory here and still is very much in the running to the quarters. South Africa captain AB de Villiers took responsibility for the shock 29-run World Cup loss to Pakistan on Saturday, blasting his team for being stuck in “second or third gear”.
Pakistan pulled off a hard-fought triumph under the Duckworth-Lewis method in a match shortened to 47-overs-a-side at Auckland’s Eden Park.
Pakistan’s 222 in 46.4 overs, interrupted by two delays for rain, was boosted by 56 from skipper Misbah-ul-Haq
while recalled opener Sarfraz Ahmed chipped in with a brisk 49.
De Villiers fought a lone hand in South Africa’s 202 in 33.3 overs with a brilliant 58-ball 77 including five sixes and seven boundaries.
But chasing a revised target of 232, the Proteas were undone by Pakistan’s trio of left-arm seamers Rahat Ali (3-50), Wahab Riaz (3-45) and Mohammad Irfan (3-45) who thwarted de Villiers’s hopes of wrapping up a quarter-final place before the last round of pool games next week. (Misbah Completes 5000 Runs in ODIs)
Both Pakistan and South Africa now have six points from five matches, behind Pool B leaders India who have a perfect eight from four.
“I’m not blaming anyone. I’m not saying anyone didn’t have the energy. I just didn’t feel any electric vibe at the warm-up,” said de Villiers. (Waqar Younis Sees Spirit of 1992 in Reborn Pakistan)
“That is normally a bit of an alarm bell going off for me. It is my responsibility to try to get the guys going, which I couldn’t, so maybe I should take responsibility for that.
“I just could feel that nothing was really happening at a hundred percent. It was almost like a car that’s stuck in second or third gear, and that’s not going to win you cricket games, especially not under pressure and in big tournaments like this.
“So we need to have a chat about what maybe went wrong tonight and try to get to fifth gear again against the UAE,” said De Villiers, of their concluding pool game in Wellington on Thursday.
De Villiers described the loss as “disappointing.”
“Once again we seemed to not get enough partnerships in pressure situations. We’ve done it in the past, but unfortunately tonight we couldn’t do that, so it’s a very disappointing loss,” he admitted.
“I felt that Pakistan wanted it more than us. There’s nothing wrong with the batting. It’s just a matter of urgency and being prepared to fight it out.”.
The South African captain was full of admiration for Pakistan’s bowling.
“They bowled pretty well tonight. They were geared up and really wanted to win the game. You could see that from a mile away.”
South Africa were well set at 67 for before Pakistan took four wickets off 39 balls for the addition of just ten runs to leave them struggling at 102-6.
De Villiers put on 32 with Dale Steyn (16) for the seventh wicket and another 34 with Kyle Abbott (12) for the next.
But Sohail Khan had de Villiers caught behind by Sarfraz Ahmed for a world record equalling sixth catch — the most by a keeper in a one-day international.
“Every time we lost a wicket it was was a turning point. It was all about us not losing wickets and them picking up wickets,” said the captain.
De Villiers said he retained full faith in his team who are still on course for a last-eight place.
“I’ve got full faith in the ability of the players around me. That’s why they’re all here. I know I can’t win this World Cup alone. I need my team-mates.” Chasing 232, de Kock failed yet again, Amla and du Plessis looked good and put in some decent runs on the board. Both fell in quick succession and the middle order suffered a collapse. de Villiers though was going strong but was losing partners at the other end. Chasing 232 to win under the Duckworth-Lewis method at Eden Park, Pakistan claimed a third successive victory by bowling out the highly-rated Proteas for 202 despite captain AB de Villiers’ valiant 77,Rahat Ali grabbed a career-best 3-40, Mohammad Irfan (3-52) and Wahab Riaz (3-45) as South Africa, chasing a revised target in 47 overs, were bowled out 33.3 overs.
South Africa also have three wins in five matches.
Pakistan’s innings, twice interrupted by rain before it was reduced to 47 overs, folded in 46.4 overs for 222 with skipper Misbah-ul-Haq scoring 56 and Sarfraz Ahmed making 49.
Dale Steyn took 3-30 off his 10 overs. SARFRAZ AHMED (Man of the Match) – Says he wants to thank God and his parents, his teammates and the team management for all their support. Adds that there was a lot of pressure being his first match. Further adds he had a chat with Mushtaq which helped him and the performances are for you to see today. Earlier in the day, Sarfraz got them off to a good start as he put on a brisk 49 runs. The middle order got good contributions but lost their way towards the end as the Proteas restricted them to 222. A good overall performance by the Pakistanis and they have their third win of this tournament. Mid way he almost took the game away from the Pakistanis but the pressure crept up on him as he ran out of partners. He went onto score a brilliant 58 ball 77. Irfan got the first breakthrough and Riaz started off with two brilliant wicket maidens. They kept picking up wickets at crucial junctures and made sure de Villiers did not get away with the game. Sohail, Irfan and Rahat Ali each picked up three wickets to get Pakistan home in the end.