Fakhar Zaman Picture Credit: Twitter/@ICC
Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman produced a brilliant innings in the second ODI of the three-match series between Pakistan and South Africa in Johannesburg on Sunday. Courtesy of his 193, which is now the highest individual score in an ODI run-chase, the Men in Green came close to pulling off a scarcely believable win, chasing 342. However, Zaman was the lone warrior and his controversial dismissal put the final nail in Pakistan's coffin as South Africa clinched a series-levelling win by 17 runs.
The nature of the dismissal
Needing 31 to win in the last over, it was important that Zaman kept the strike with him to have any chance of winning the match. Understandably, he came back for two but was tricked by Quinton de Kock into believing that the throw was going towards the non-striker's end. As Zaman looked back to see if Haris Rauf had made his ground, his stumps were disturbed instead.
The fault was mine: Fakhar Zaman
Post an innings to remember, Zaman said that de Kock is not to be blamed as it was completely his own fault. "The fault was mine as I was too busy looking out for Haris Rauf at the other end as I felt he'd started off a little late from his crease, so I thought he was in trouble. The rest is up to the match referee, but I don't think it's Quinton's fault," he was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
Notably, had de Kock been found guilty of intentionally deceiving the batsman, his team would have been fined five penalty runs with the ball having to be re-bowled and the match could have gone either way but that wasn't to be on Sunday.
The three-match series is now levelled at 1-1 with the final ODI scheduled on Tuesday in Centurion.
