After winning the toss, Pakistan elected to bowl first against South Africa in the opening clash of the three-match T20I series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Ali Agha (c), Usman Khan (wk), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira (c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Lizaad Williams, Nandre Burger and Lungi Ngidi.
Head-to-head
Pakistan and South Africa have come face-to-face 25 times in T20Is, with their head-to-head record hanging in balance as the two teams are tied with 12 victories each.
- Matches: 25
- Pakistan: 12
- South Africa: 12
- No Result: 1
Form Guide
The two teams will enter the series with similar momentum in their favour as Pakistan are fresh from the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 heartbreak, during which they lost to arch-rivals India thrice, including the historic final.
The Proteas, on the other hand, suffered their first-ever defeat at the hands of Namibia in international cricket when they lost the one-off T20I against the home side in Windhoek earlier this month.
Furthermore, South Africa suffered a double setback as experienced batter David Miller and fast bowler Gerald Coetzee have both been ruled out of the white-ball series due to injuries.
Notably, the two teams last played a bilateral series in the shortest format in December last year, which the home side, South Africa, won 2-0 as the third fixture was abandoned due to rain.
Pakistan: L, W, W, L, W (most recent first)
South Africa: L, A, L, W, L
