SA vs PAK: Saim Ayub's century, Salman Agha's strong performance, Pakistan crushed South Africa in the last over.

Cricket News Desk. Pakistan defeated South Africa by three wickets in the first match of the three-match ODI series. This exciting match was played at Boland Park in Paarl on Tuesday. Pakistan won thanks to a brilliant all-round performance by Salman Ali Aga and a century by Sam Ayub. South Africa scored 239 runs. Pakistan won the match with three balls remaining. Both made a partnership of 161 runs for the fifth wicket. This partnership proved to be the foundation of Pakistan's victory.

South Africa failed after a great start
South Africa captain Aiden Markram won the toss and decided to bat first. Initially this decision seemed right. Tony DeGeorge and Ryan Rickelton added 70 runs for the first wicket in 9.5 overs. De Georgi, who batted openly against Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah in the opening spell, became Salman's victim after scoring 33 runs in 25 balls. Rickleton was also out after seven balls. Due to which the South African team came on the back foot.

Salman dismissed opener Rassie van der Dussen for 8 runs. Due to which Pakistan got the lead. Two balls later, Salman dismissed Tristan Stubbs for just 1 run, reducing South Africa's score to 88/4 in 13.4 overs. Captain Markram and Heinrich Klaasen made a partnership of 73 runs for the fifth wicket. After scoring 35 runs, Markram was caught out at midwicket off Ayub's ball in the 32nd over. Now the responsibility of taking South Africa to a respectable score fell on Klaasen.

Wicketkeeper batsman Klaasen took South Africa past 200 runs despite dismissing his fellow batsmen. Shaheen Shah Afridi ended his innings. Klaasen scored 86 runs in 97 balls with the help of 7 fours and 2 sixes. The lower order batsmen could not make any significant contribution. Salman took 4 wickets for 32 runs.

Only Ayub and Salman should go.
In reply, Pakistan had a very bad start. Their four main batsmen were out for just 60 runs. Pakistan was on the verge of disintegration. After this Ayub and Agha formed a match-winning partnership. Ayub scored his second ODI century. He scored 109 runs in 119 balls with the help of 10 fours and 3 sixes. Ayub was out in the 42nd over. Now Pakistan needed 39 more runs to win.

Undeterred by his partner's dismissal, Agha continued to bat brilliantly and led his team to victory with three balls to spare. He played an unbeaten inning of 82 runs in 90 balls with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes. Babar Azam scored 23 runs on 38 balls while captain Mohammad Rizwan scored only one run.