Pakistan tour of SA starts with 3 match T20 series today. This will be 1st T20 match between two teams since their T20 WC game in 2022 which Pakistan won. Although Pakistan has won 4 out of 5 last T20s played against SA, alot has changed as far as Pakistan T20 team is concerned. Their winning percentage in T20 format significant dropped in 2024 with only winning 2 series ( Zimbabwe and Ireland). Current selected squad has few new faces and overall its an inexperienced side trying to make an impact under the leadership of new white ball captain Muhammad Rizwan. SA also has not been the best in recent T20 home series against India losing 3-1.
The schedule for 3 T20s is as below:
1st T20 December 10th 2024 Durban
2nd T20 December 14th 2024 Centurion
3rd T20 December 15th 2024 Johannesburg
Biggest challenge for Pakistan team will be to get used to local conditions like any other overseas visiting team to SA. SA has enough pace and spin in their bowling attack, and also well complimented by experience with likes of David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen. In the bigger scheme of things this series is not going to matter much as next T20 World Cup is in 2026 but a series win by either team will be crucial in buiding their confidence in this format.
Match Start Time : Match will start 9PM PST each day . For Pakistani fans in Australia , it will be 1200 AM ( AWST).
