Dubai, Nov. 5: Pakistan tail-end batsman Zulqarnain Haider and Wahab Riaz pulled off a sensational one-wicket win for their team over South Africa in the fourth one-dayer after Younis Khan’s fifty here on Friday.
Younis’s sedate 73 built Pakistan’s run-chase but they owed it to their tail-enders Haider (19 not out) and Riaz (18 not out) as they put on 28 runs for the ninth wicket to help their team chase down a challenging 275-run target.
Fit-again Graeme Smith played a captain’s knock of 92 to steer South Africa to a challenging 274/6 but once again his team choked in the final moments despite having grabbed all top wickets.
Pakistan still needed 31 when they lost Abdul Razzaq (33) — whose robust 72-ball 109 not out which shocked South Africa by one wicket in the second match in Abu Dhabi — but Haider and Riaz held their nerves.
Even when Riaz was run out with three needed off as many deliveries, Haider kept his cool, scoring two off paceman Wayne Parnell and then pulled the penultimate delivery for a single, much to the delight of a 25,000 capacity crowd.
The win helped Pakistan level the series at 2-2 and set up an intriguing fifth and final match here on Monday.
It was Younis whose 115-ball half-cenury with only one boundary that put Pakistan on course for a tight run-chase, adding 58 for the second wicket with Mohammad Hafeez (42) and 56 with Asad Shafiq (36).
Scores: South Africa 274/6 in 50 overs (Smith 92, De Villiers 49; Akhtar 2/51, Riaz 2/61, Hafeez 2/37) lost to Pakistan 275/9 in 49.5 overs (Hafeez 42, Younis 73; Morkel 3/48).