Ashraf, Mirza and Ayub set up series-levelling win for Pakistan

Pakistan hit back with aplomb after going down in the series opener in Rawalpindi as the troika of Faheem Ashraf (4-23), Salman Mirza (3-14) and Saim Ayub (71* off 35) fashioned a comprehensive nine-wicket victory in Lahore. South Africa crashed and burned their way to a paltry 110 all-out, which Pakistan chased down in the 14th over.

Mirza laid the early foundation stone for the big win by picking three of the four wickets that South Africa lost in the PowerPlay. He cleaned up Reeza Hendricks on the second ball of the innings and befuddled Tony de Zorzi with a leg cutter in the third over, who top-edged a pull shot to Abrar Ahmed at short fine leg. In the fifth over, Matthew Breetzke was bowled off a slower ball. Between the first two Mirza dismissals, Naseem Shah too benefitted from change of pace as he got Quinton de Kock to miscue a shot to mid-off.

Dewald Brevis attempted to push back, hitting three of the four sixes in the innings, but his cameo was short-lived. He became the first of Ashraf's four victims, against a slower ball dug in short which he hit to cover. Ashraf then cleaned up Donovan Ferreira and George Linde in his two following overs to reduce South Africa to 73/7. Corbin Bosch and Ottneil Baartman limped to double-figure scores in order to push South Africa past the 100-run mark but they couldn't go too far along. Naseem, Abrar Ahmed and Faheem got the better of them to bundle out the visitors in the final over.

Sahibzada Farhan and Ayub brought fluency and urgency to the small chase in the PowerPlay. They took the team to the end of that phase on 49/0 before Ayub teed off further. Bosch saw the back of Farhan in the seventh over but that was the only breakthrough South Africa could manage. Babar Azam walked out and put his duck in the previous fixture behind him to forge a match-winning stand with Ayub. In the process, he overtook Rohit Sharma to become the leading run-scorer in T20Is.

Ayub shifted gears ruthlessly in the ninth over against Baartman, smashing him for two fours and two sixes in a 21-run over. In the 10th, he got to his maiden T20I fifty at home off 29 deliveries. He closed out the same over with another six. In the 14th over, he tonked Linde for a massive 92-metre six over deep midwicket and completed the chase a few deliveries later against Ferreira with one over the same stands. Ayub finished unbeaten on 71 off 38, with 54 of those coming in just fours and sixes.

Brief Scores:South Africa 110 in 19.2 overs (Dewald Brewis 25; Faheem Ashraf 4-23, Salman Mirza 3-14) lost Pakistan 112/1 in 13.1 overs (Saim Ayub 71*) by 9 wickets