Abrar, Saim set up Pakistan's maiden home ODI series win over SA

Pakistan thrashed South Africa by seven wickets on the back of Abrar Ahmed's four-fer and Saim Ayub's 77, to complete a 2-1 ODI series win, their first against the opponents at home. Opting to bat, the visitors could muster only 143, from 106/2 at one point, after a dramatic middle-overs collapse triggered by Abrar's 4 for 27. Saim then led the chase despite losing his opening partner cheaply, helping the hosts polish off the target in just 25.1 overs.

Lhuan-dre Pretorius and de Kock combined for a 72-run opening stand in 14 overs but once Pakistan struck, there was no looking back. Salman Agha got his side the breakthrough, and then dismissed Tony de Zorzi in quick succession to leave them at 87/2.

From there on, despite de Kock hanging around for a half-century, South Africa managed no decent partnership. Once he fell for 53, having made exactly half of his team's runs at that stage, South Africa could only muster 37 more before losing all of their remaining seven wickets.

Abrar picked three across his two succeeding overs, before returning later to get rid of skipper Matthew Breetzke for his fourth. Shaheen Afridi helped clean up the tail, picking 2 for 18 before the visitors were bundled out for a humble 143 inside 38 overs.

Nandre Burger struck on his second ball of the match to send back Fakhar Zaman for a duck but Saim and Babar Azam joined forces. The duo stitched a 65-run partnership, where the opener was the aggressor.

A run-out sent the former skipper back on 32-ball 27, but Saim's 70-ball 77 - laced with 11 boundaries and a six - put the team on the cusp of the series win. Mohammad Rizwan played his part in the decider, making an unbeaten 32 off 45 to help his side over the line just after the half-way mark.

Brief scores: South Africa 143 all out in 37.5 overs (Quinton de Kock 53; Abrar Ahmed 4-27) lost to Pakistan 144/3 in 25.1 overs (Saim Ayub 77, Mohammad Rizwan 32*) by 7 wickets