SERIES PREVIEWWhile South Africa's Test team were on the field against Sri Lanka in Gqeberha, a separate group of players were in Pretoria preparing for a T20I series against Pakistan.
The T20I squad, captained by Heinrich Klaasen, flew to Durban on Sunday where the first T20I will be played on Tuesday – just one day after South Africa wrapped up a Test win in Gqeberha.
It is the first of six white-ball matches—three T20Is and three one-day internationals—that Pakistan will play before they face South Africa in two Test matches.
Only Ryan Rickelton of the current South African Test team is due to play in the T20 series – although regular white-ball captain Aiden Markram as well as Tristan Stubbs, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen would all be likely choices in a full-strength team.
Pakistan, too, will make multiple changes between formats, with only white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha due to play in all three series.
South African white-ball coach Rob Walter has called up fast bowler Anrich Nortje and left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi for the T20 series. Nortje and Shamsi were South Africa's leading bowlers at the T20 World Cup, helping the team reach the final. However, they have opted out of national contracts to play in franchise tournaments around the world.
Despite their successful World Cup campaign, Walter is under pressure because of South Africa's poor record in bilateral series – they have lost five and drawn two of seven series – but he has seldom been able to field a full-strength team.
Pakistan are coming off a white-ball tour of Zimbabwe, where they won both the one-day and T20 series. Before that they were in Australia where they lost all three T20 matches but won a one-day series 2-1. Pakistan will field a strong fast bowling line-up in both white-ball series, including Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf, who are not part of their Test squad. The T20I squad includes left-arm wrist spinner Sufyan Muqim, who took five wickets for just three runs in the second T20I against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo last Tuesday.
South Africa T20I Squad: Heinrich Klaasen (c) , Ottneil Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Patrick Kruger, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Nqaba Peter, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Andile Simelane, and Rassie van der Dussen.
Pakistan T20I Squad: Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan (wk).
Here are the limited-overs fixtures:
December 10, first T20I, Durban
December 13, second T20I, Centurion
December 14, third T20I, Johannesburg
December 17, first ODI, Paarl
December 19, second ODI, Cape Town
December 22, third ODI, Johannesburg
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