Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan praises opener Saim Ayub after SA series win

After the landmark away series win against South Africa, Pakistan captain Mohammed Rizwan praised the performance of young opener Saim Ayub, saying the team “trusts and believes” in his talent. . Ayub is one of Pakistan’s front-line stars as they achieved South Africa’s first-ever clean series win, following their victory in the third and final ODI in Johannesburg on Monday. He spent two glorious centuries, including one century.

In the post-match presentation, Rizwan said, “(Winning the series) is always a proud moment. The nation expects something like that from us. We are happy. The whole team worked hard. It was the second ODI. Everybody performed well,” he said. It was a perfect team match. It wasn’t easy playing away from my home country. The players trusted each other. We trust him and believe in his talent. ”

Ayub finished as the top run-getter of the series with 235 runs in three matches at an average of 78.33 with a strike rate of over 96 and a best score of 109. In nine ODIs so far, Ayub has scored 515 runs in a match. Average 64.37, strike rate 105.53, 3 centuries and 50 hits, best score 113*.

South Africa won the toss and were chosen to bat first. 115-run stand between Ayub (101 off 94 balls, 13 fours, 2 sixes) and Babar Azam (52 ​​off 71 balls, 7 fours) after Abdullah Shafiq fell for a duck and Ayub’s 93-run stand. The third wicket between Ayub and Rizwan (53 off 52 balls, five fours and one six) was a big highlight for Pakistan. They achieved a challenging total of 308/9 in 50 overs.

The Proteas’ top bowler was Kagiso Rabada (3/56 in 10 overs). Marco Jansen and Björn Fortuyn also took two wickets.

In response, the Proteas lost wickets at regular intervals. Heinrich Klaasen (81 off 43 balls, 12 fours, 2 sixes) is once again a lone warrior, along with Themba Bavuma (8) and Toni de Sorge (26 off 23 balls, 2 fours). (1st inning, 2 sixes), and achieved 50 points for the third consecutive year, along with Aiden. Markram (19 off 26 balls, 3 fours), Rassie van der Dussen (35 off 52 balls, 4 boundaries and a six) and David Miller (3) could not support him with enough runs. did. Corbin Bosch (40* off 44 balls, 5 fours) was left stranded as the Proteas were banded out at 271/10 in 42 overs.

Spinner Sufiyan Mukeem (4/52) was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan while Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi also picked up two wickets.

Ayub won the “Player of the Match” and “Player of the Series” awards.

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