De Kock ton powers South Africa's cruise to victory

Quinton de Kock's 123* and Nandre Burger's searing four-wicket haul powered South Africa to a facile eight-wicket win over Pakistan in Faisalabad, helping them draw level in the three-match ODI series. Chasing 270, South Africa made light work of the target with 59 balls to spare, riding on a massive second-wicket partnership that flattened Pakistan's bowling.

South Africa began steadily through de Kock and Lhuan-dre Pretorius. The pair put on 81 for the opening wicket before Mohammad Wasim Jr broke through in the 12th over. Pretorius, who had looked in fine touch with his drives and pick-up flicks, fell for 46 off 40 balls after edging behind to Rizwan.

That brought Tony de Zorzi to the crease and what followed was a 153-run partnership that completely flattened Pakistan's bowling. De Kock, dropped on 15 by Mohammad Nawaz at deep square leg, made the hosts pay in full. He paced his innings beautifully, reaching his 22nd ODI hundred off 96 balls, hitting 8 fours and 7 sixes in total. De Zorzi found rhythm through a flurry of drives and slog sweeps, bringing up his first fifty in 13 innings and finishing with 76 off 63 balls before holing out to backward point off Faheem Ashraf, who had earlier dropped him on 54.

By then, the result was beyond doubt. De Kock continued unflustered, pulling Faheem for a huge six and driving with authority to finish the job alongside Matthew Breetzke (16*).

Earlier in the day, Pakistan recovered from a dismal start after opting to bat to post what looked like a competitive total at the time, thanks to Mohammad Nawaz's fluent 59 and Salman Agha's steady 69.

Nandre Burger ran riot with pace and movement to have Pakistan reeling inside the first five overs. The left-arm quick dismissed Fakhar Zaman for a duck, had Babar Azam caught in the slips for 11 and then bowled Mohammad Rizwan for 4 to leave the hosts tottering at 22 for 3.

It was Saim Ayub (53) who began the rebuild, playing some fluent strokes against the spinners to bring up his second ODI fifty. He added 92 for the fourth wicket with Salman Agha, who was content to play the anchor role. Just as Pakistan seemed to be stabilizing, Corbin Bosch produced a sharp caught-and-bowled chance to remove Ayub in the 25th over, opening up the game again. Hussain Talat and Salman Agha struggled for fluency and the left-hander's scratchy stay ended when he chipped a return catch to leg-spinner Nqabayomzi Peter for 10.

Salman Agha, meanwhile, played the sheet anchor role perfectly, bringing up his second successive fifty in the series. He fell in the 41st over for 69 off 106, bowled by Bosch after a valuable 59-run stand with Nawaz that gave Pakistan momentum. From there, Nawaz took charge. He struck 4 sixes and 3 fours in a run-a-ball 59, taking Pakistan from 190 for 6 to 269 for 9, with support from Faheem Ashraf (28 off 18) and Mohammad Wasim Jr's late hits.

Burger was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 4 for 46 from 10 overs, while Peter's leg-spin fetched him three wickets despite some late punishment. The spinners together bowled 30 overs on a slow, dry pitch, keeping control through the middle overs before Pakistan's lower order counter-attacked to add 90 runs in the last 10 overs.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 269/9 (Salman Agha 69, Mohammad Nawaz 59, Saim Ayub 53; Nandre Burger 4-46) lost to South Africa 270/2 in 40.1 overs (Quinton de Kock 123*, Tony de Zorzi 76) by 8 wickets