World Cup 2023 Match 26, PAK vs SA | Who Will Win?

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Struggling halfway through their campaign at the ICC World Cup 2023, Pakistan are approaching a must-win game against South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday (October 27). Under heavy pressure to revive their semifinal hopes, the Asian giants need to bounce back strong from the disappointment of losing their last three league matches. 

The 1992 champions started off with encouraging wins versus the Netherlands and Sri Lanka but have been crashed down to earth by painstaking losses to arch-rivals India, Australia and Afghanistan since. The upset against the resilient Afghans further further tightened the screws on Babar Azam & company and laid bare their longstanding problems. 

While deeper flaws with the side require a systematic overhaul, there are two immediate problems hurting Pakistan at this World Cup: their inability to strike early with the new ball and their underfiring middle order. Both of which have further staked the odds against a struggling outfit. 

On the individual front, Pakistan's issues have multifold due to the persistent failures of Shaheen Afridi and skipper Babar Azam. Neither Shaheen has eased the pressure on the rest of the bowling unit by providing early breakthroughs nor has the captain led them from the front with bat in hand. Shaheen has struck just once in five innings inside the first powerplay while Babar is averaging shy of 32 after his five knocks of the tournament. 

PAK v SA: Rampaging Proteas Clash With Struggling Pakistan 

Up against the brittle Pakistan side will be the firing Proteas, who have stood resurrected from the disasters of 2019 to collectively pack the strongest punch and emerge as genuine tournament contenders despite entering it with minimal expectations. 

The South Africans have battered and bruised their oppositions either side of an unexpected blip endured against the Netherlands in Dharamshala. The historic 'chokers' have played like a dominating juggernaut to flex their muscles past Sri Lanka, Australia, England and Bangladesh. 

Despite losing their inspirational skipper Temba Bavuma to injury in the last two games, stand-in captain Aiden Markram and his men managed to retain the winning ways and have been peaking in all departments of the game. 

While their much-vaunted batting unit has been pushing the scoring envelope, their bowlers have relished strong totals to pulverize the opposition's batting units and bring them down in submission. 

South Africa start as overwhelming favourites to further salt the Pakistani wounds, with their biggest challenge being quick adjustment from a flatbed batting surface in Mumbai to a dry, turning pitch in Chennai. Pakistan have a tendency to pull it all together when one least expects them to. But the Proteas present a challenge too stiff this time.