Pak vs SA: Pakistan decide to bat first against South Africa after winning toss

Today’s match marks Pakistan’s fifth appearance in the tournament.

Pak vs SA: Pakistan decide to bat first against South Africa after winning toss. Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 clash against South Africa at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.

Today’s match marks Pakistan’s fifth appearance in the tournament.

Led by Babar Azam, the team aims to rebound from three consecutive upsets against India, Australia and Afghanistan with its eyes set to secure victory against the formidable Proteas, captained by Temba Bavuma.

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Playing XI

Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi

Mohammad Babar Azam is a Pakistani international cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all formats. He is widely regarded as one of the finest batters in contemporary world cricket.

He is presently the only cricketer in the world to be in the top 5 rankings across all formats and is currently ranked as the number one batter in ODIs, fourth in T20I and Tests. A right-handed top-order batter, he captains Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL and Central Punjab in Pakistan’s domestic cricket. With 42 wins, he is the joint most successful T20I captain of all time.