South Africa survived a late charge from Pakistan to pull off a thrilling one-wicket win and move closer to the semi-finals of the World Cup on Friday. Aiden Markram hit a solid 91 and at 206-4 South Africa were well on course to comfortably chase down a 271-run target. However, it was left to the last pair of Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi to score the final 11 runs. Shamsi survived a close leg-before appeal that went to umpire's call off fast bowler Haris Rauf with eight needed. The incident took place on the final ball of the 46th over.
Shamsi was hit on the front pad on the bowling of Rauf. The ground umpire gave it not out and Pakistan reviewed the decision.
Ball tracking revealed that the ball would have clipped the leg stump, which meant the wicket was on umpire's call. Shamsi survived as the field umpire had given him not out.
Not getting a wicket despite getting so close, the Pakistan players, especially Haris Rauf was left heart-broken. The video of the Pakistani players' reaction has gone viral on social media.
Watch it here:
Maharaj hit the winning runs by smashing a boundary on the bowling of Pakistan spinner Mohammad Nawaz to the square-leg boundary on the second ball of the 48th over.
"Really happy, you play enough cricket to know sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it doesn't," said Shamsi who finished on four runs.
Maharaj (seven not out) also added 10 runs for the ninth wicket with Lungi Ngidi (four) but Rauf took a stunning catch off his own bowling to send Ngidi back.
The win took South Africa top of the table with 10 points from five wins in six matches.
Pakistan, however, have lost four in succession after opening the tournament with back-to-back wins.
They have four points and will need results to fall in their favour if they are to sneak into the semi-finals.
"We had a very close fight and fought very well. We had an opportunity to win this match but we missed it," said Pakistan skipper Babar Azam.
"We will try our best in our next three matches."
This was only the seventh one-wicket win by a team in all World Cups and second by South Africa.
(With AFP Inputs)
source https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/pakistan-cricketers-left-heartbroken-after-failed-drs-appeal-vs-south-africa-in-cricket-world-cup-2023-watch-4521614
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