Pakistan’s crushing 124-run loss to title-holders India in their tournament opener at Edgbaston on Sunday was labelled the “Mother of all mismatches” by the Indian Express newspaper.

Yet, worryingly for Pakistan coach Arthur, there is the potential for an even more lopsided match when they return to Edgbaston on Wednesday — and that’s not simply because South Africa are top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) one-day international rankings while Pakistan are eighth.

Pakistan were outplayed in every department by an India side who were nowhere near their best.

Having conceded 319 for three as India’s top order ran riot, Pakistan were dismissed for just 164, having never once threatened a rain-adjusted target of 289 in 41 overs.

It led former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, to slam the current team’s “clueless” batting and “abysmal fielding”.

Now, in the space of just a few days, Pakistan must somehow raise their game to beat a South Africa side who defeated Sri Lanka by 96 runs at the Oval on Saturday in their opening Group B fixture if they are to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Arthur suggested too many Pakistan players had suffered ‘stage fright’ against India in front of a capacity crowd of more than 24,000.

“My issue is fear,” he said. “My issue is getting out there and really looking to take the game on.

“The worrying thing for me…is we just do the basics wrong.

“We drop simple catches. We don’t run well enough between wickets. We don’t understand when to bowl our variations.” But Arthur, a former coach of both South Africa and Australia, was adamant all was far from lost.

“We’ll be thinking firmly of coming back and beating South Africa,” he said. “Because that’s what I think our players can do. “So, we’re going to be up for the fight.” Pakistan will be without Wahab Riaz after he was ruled out of the rest of the tournament on Monday with an ankle injury sustained when falling in his delivery stride against India. But given by that stage the left-arm paceman had conceded a whopping 87 runs in 8.4 wicketless overs, his absence may not be that big a blow.

Pakistan have applied to the ICC for an injury replacement, but they appear to have a stand-in already with them in Junaid Khan, who took four for 73 in a warm-up match against Bangladesh.

Mohammad Amir provided rare moments of respite amid the India run-spree with a return of none for 32 in 8.1 overs. Yet, concerningly, the left-arm fast bowler was unable to complete his full allocation of overs because of cramp, despite being repeatedly on and off the field on what was a cool day. If Arthur has some ‘inside knowledge’ on South Africa, the Proteas’ have a ‘spy’ of their own in Pakistan-born Imran Tahir. The leg-spinner, who changed allegiance after falling in love with his South African wife, played a key role in Saturday’s match.

Despite a fine hundred by South Africa’s Hashim Amla, Sri Lanka were well-placed to chase down a target of 300 at 116 for two. But man-of-the-match Tahir’s return of four for 27 turned the tide.

“It was close to ten out of ten,” said South Africa captain AB de Villiers of Tahir’s performance, which also included a run-out. “He takes wickets and he is also economical most of the time,” added the skipper, who was equally delighted by Amla’s “amazing innings”.

The cliche of Pakistani ‘unpredictability’ may be wearing thin, at least in ODI cricket.

South Africa, however, have a nasty habit of not playing to their potential in ICC tournaments and de Villiers promised they were not about to “get ahead of ourselves”

Batting first, South Africa were helped to the target by Faf du Plessis who scored his career best 185. Fifties from Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers were the other hightlights of the first innings.

South Africa vs Sri Lanka

0049 hrs IST: All over! South Africa win by 40 runs after Wayne Parnell bowls Sandakan. Chasing 368 for the first win of the series, Sri Lanka are bowled out for 327 and South Africa now lead the five-match series 4-0

0041 hrs IST: WICKET! Parnell strikes! Sri Lanka lose their ninth wicket as Madhushanka drives one straight to covers. They still need 43 runs but doesn’t look realistic now

0038 hrs IST: WICKET! Stunner from De Kock! Pathirana cannot believe it! What an effort from De Kock. Pathirana plays it very late, trying to get it past De Kock but he just times his jump to perfection and ball sticks in the flap off the gloves. Sri Lanka lose eighth wicket

0033 hrs IST: WICKET! That is gone. Such a tame dismissal after a brilliant innings from Weera! A full toss and he somehow manages to get a top edge off it. Parnell runs from short backward point position to take the catch

0029 hrs IST: Consecutive boundaries for Weerakkody! Both past the short third-man. He has played a gem of an innings in Cape Town. Sri Lanka are relying on him to chase down this target

0022 hrs IST: WICKET! Gunaratne gone! He has pulled it straight to mid-wicket. Brilliant from Rabada as he pulls back the line and batsman tries to pull it hard. Straight to the fielder

0020 hrs IST: FIFTY! Weerakkody gets to his maiden ODI fifty off just 46 balls. This is a great moment to reach the milestone. But can he help Sri Lanka cross the line?

0018 hrs IST: Sri Lanka are 299 for the loss of four wickets after 43 overs. They need 69 more runs off 42 balls and they have six wickets in hand. Can they pull it off?

0003 hrs IST: DROPPED! Shamshi puts a catch on the ropes. That is high up in the air and taking a top edge off Guna’s bat. Shamshi settles below it but could not catch it

0000 hrs IST: Six runs from the 39th over. Sri Lanka are 266 for the loss of four wickets. They need 102 more runs from 66 balls with six wickets in hand. South Africa were 254 for 3 at the same stage

2343 hrs IST: DROPPED! Will this be costly for South Africa? Weerakkody pulls and it goes straight to deep square-leg where Imran Tahir is in no position to take the catch. He has put down a sitter

2342 hrs IST: Over number 35 gone in Cape Town. Sri Lanka are 237 for the loss of four wickets. They need 131 more runs from 90 balls to win this match. Rabada is the bowler for South Africa

2334 hrs IST: WICKET! De Silva adjudged LBW! Brilliant from Rabada. That is a full yorker that hits De Silva on the pads. Umpire has no doubt in his mind. Sri Lank lose their fourth wicket

2330 hrs IST: Now it is becoming difficult for Sri Lanka. The runs have frozen for them. Below 102 balls remaining in their innings and they need 144 runs to win this match with nine wickets in hand

2320 hrs IST: 30 overs bowled and Sri Lanka are 217 for the loss of three wickets. They need 151 more runs from 120 balls. Imrah Tahir is the bowled. De Silva and Weerakkody the two batsmen out there

2315 hrs IST: WICKET! Upal Tharanga is caught at point! A brilliant innings of 119 comes to an end as Wayne Parnell removes Upul Tharanga. Could not keep it down as he tried to cut one. Sri Lanka still need over 150 runs

2307 hrs IST: WICKET! Mendis has to go. Wayne Parnell strikes! That is a big wicket for South Africa. Against the run of play, Mendis is gone. He had shuffled across and Parnell banged in a bouncer. Trying to pull, Mendis misses it and it brushes his gloves on the way and straight to the keeper

2301 hrs IST: Sri Lanka are 200 for the loss of one wicket after 26 overs. They need 168 more runs from 144 balls. Pretty much achievable if they keep their wickets in hand

2254 hrs IST: CENTURY! Upal Tharanga has a hundred with a six! What an innings from Tharanga. The stand-in skipper for Sri Lanka has played a brilliant innings and has kept Sri Lanka in the game

2247 hrs IST: Review! Imran Tahir is convinced that he has got the wicket of Mendis. Umpire says not out. Tahir asks AB to review and South Africa go for it. The impact of the pad and ball is just in line but the googly is turning way too much. Will just kiss the leg-stump. Umpire’s call and it stays not out

2244 hrs IST: 22 overs have been bowled and Sri Lanka are 170 for the loss of one wicket. They still need 198 more runs from 168 balls to win the fourth ODI against South Africa

2234 hrs IST: 150 up for Sri Lanka in the 20th over. This is a nice platform for them to claim the first win of the series. They are chasing a big total but something which is achievable

2225 hrs IST: N Dickwella c Behardien b Pretorius 58
Pretorius breaks the opening stand at 139. The tourists are much ahead as they still have to chase 229 to win the fourth ODI. Mendis makes his way into the middle

2215 hrs IST: Dickwella brings up his third ODI half-century while Tharanga seems unstoppable as he has added 73 from 45 balls. Sri Lanka reach 137 after 15 overs.

2200 hrs IST: Tharanga takes a single as he plays down towards the fielder at point and brings up his 31st ODI half-century. SL 84 for no loss after 8 overs, Dickwella 28. South Africa were at 47/1

2150 hrs IST: Niroshan Dickwella, Upul Tharanga provide Sri Lanka a start they were looking for. The tourists reach 56 for the loss of no wicket after five overs. Tharanga 37 not out and Dickwella batting on 17

South Africa set a target of 368 for Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI at Cape Town. N Dickwella, DS Weerakkody to begin Sri Lanka’s chase.

2050 hrs IST: Faf du Plessis c Gunaratne b Madhushanka 185
Du Plessis makes his way back after a heroic knock, smashed 16 boundaries and three sixes. Plessis hit it high and down to long-on and Gunaratne takes it comfortably. Faf falls three runs short of equaling Gary Kirsten’s record for highest individual score by a South African batsman.

2044 hrs IST: 4,6,0,4,6,2 Faf du Plessis smashes the ball all over the park as he takes South Africa to 317/4 at the end of 46th over. Du Plessis’s 175* is now the highest score at Newlands Cricket Stadium, surpasses David Warner’s 173

Du Plessis his it straight back over the bowler’s head for a maximum and bring 300 up for the hosts. Also, brings up his career best ODI score and his first 150.

South Africa lose AB de Villiers and JP Duminy before Faf du Plessis continues to help the hosts set a big total against Sri Lanka.

Kumara bowls a yorker to Du Plessis and he directs it to the leg side for four and that brings up his seventh ODI century.

South Africa get to the 200 run mark
The wicket of Quinton de Kock was only to be followed by another near century run parthership between du Plessis and AB de Villiers. du plessis is only three runs away from getting to his century.

OUT! Quinton de Kock 55 c Tharanga b Pathirana, South Africa 103/2
Pathirana tosses the ball up and de Kock only nicks it to the slips. No hundred for the Protea Wicket keeper today, a strong second wicket stand ended.

Quinton de Kock gets to his half centuryin 40 balls. Du Plessis and De Kock have now put on 84 runs for the second wicket and South Africa are 87/1. De Kock has go to his fifty in 40 balls, South Africa are 88/1 after 14 overs

Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock have nullified the jolt caused by Amla’s dismissal and South Africa have now raced to 53/1 in nine overs.

The stadium is far from a full house just yet. Kulasekara was the man to bowl the first over and Hashim Amla was the man on strike. South Africa ended the over without losing a wicket but Amla didn’t last long after that.
In the third ball of the second over, he tried to drive a short of a length delivery outside off from Lahiru Kumara and ended up edging it to slips. South Africa had lost their first wicket for just three runs.

A career-best 178 from 113 balls not only lifted the Proteas to a crushing six-wicket win in the first outing of the five-match ODI Series, it spelled out a very clear challenge to Australia’s revamped bowling attack.

That the absence of strike bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood means South Africa’s batters carry no fear, even with a couple of their most potent one-day batsmen missing from today’s game.

De Kock has often been criticised, occasionally ostracised, for not making the most of his unquestioned talent and has spent periods on the outer of South Africa’s Test and limited-overs outfits.

Quick Single: The records that de Kock demolished

He was even quoted as suggesting some Australian players were using injury as a reason to take time out of the gruelling international schedule that sees them in South Africa just weeks after their two-month visit to Sri Lanka.

But rather like former opener Herschelle Gibbs, the man he this evening ousted as owner of the highest score by a South African in an ODI against Australia, it would seem that consistency is the only obvious flaw in an otherwise complete batting repertoire.

Given that South Africa completed their pursuit with almost 15 overs to spare and just as de Kock was warming to his work – his final 78 runs coming from just 39 balls with seven sixes – it’s not unreasonable to think he might have surpassed the record ODI score of 264 set by India’s Rohit Sharma had his team been set a loftier pursuit.

And had he not holed out to a clever diving catch at deep backward square for the second-highest one-day score by a South African batsman – which remains Gary Kirsten’s 188 against the UAE in the 1996 World Cup – having clubbed an extraordinarily diverse range of 16 boundaries and 11 sixes.

While his cause was doubtless aided by some lacklustre bowling and sloppy fielding – the most costly being Mitchell Marsh’s attempted overhead mark at deep fine leg that spilled over the boundary when de Kock was 57 – so crisp was his stroke play that most of the Australians ran to congratulate him on his knock when he surrendered his wicket.

Shortly before they retired to their dressing room to contemplate the scope of their defeat – the six-wicket loss being the heftiest defeat they’ve suffered having posted a score above 275 since South Africa chased down 327 for the loss of only three wickets in Harare two years ago.

When de Kock and his opening partner Rilee Rossouw were flaying the tourists all over Centurion in the opening hour it seemed that margin might be 10 wickets.

Rossouw was not named in the initial squad for the five-match series against Australia as he was not deemed to have fully recovered the dislocated right shoulder he suffered while playing against the same opponent during the recent ODI tri-series in the Caribbean.

He was added when the Proteas’ skipper AB de Villiers was ruled out of the campaign – and the next two months – earlier in the week because of impending surgery to fix a painful elbow complaint.

If the Australians privately felt that was a stroke of good fortune, they were very publicly treated to an array of strokes that highlighted it was anything but.

Rossouw and de Kock flew past 50 in the seventh over, beyond 100 in the 14th and would have likely reeled in the world champions’ tally with about 10 overs to spare if the former had not succumbed to ambition.

The reverse sweep he aimed at Adam Zampa’s opening delivery brought Australia’s sole joy in more than an hour of toil, and vindicated those who felt the leg-spinner might have been employed earlier.

Although Zampa’s skipper was clearly of the view that turning the ball into a pair of left-handers in such murderous form threatened a fast-track to failure.

As it turned out, that was the very path the Australians found themselves as Rossouw’s removal only egged on de Kock who reached his century in the most emphatic manner.

Crunching new cap Dan Worrall over the rope, fence, baying fans and very nearly the rolling grass embankment at mid-wicket with one of the cleanest strikes of his bludgeoning 74-ball knock to that moment.

A pummelling that continued unabated until he departed the field to rapturous scenes in the 34th over.

Along the way the 23-year-old provided a master class for the Australian top-order who had all made starts but failed to cash in on the sort of perfect batting wicket they spent the previous two months craving.

The left-hander picked the gaps adroitly at the start of his innings, muscled the ball more violently as the field restrictions were lifted and then heaped humiliation on a hapless attack as he single-handedly made a mockery of the target that a decade ago would have appeared laughably large.

Upon initial glance, Australia’s 50-over tally of 294 appeared challenging if not outright formidable given that only two teams had successfully chased down bigger scores in almost 40 ODIs played at Centurion.

Less reassuring was the knowledge one of those teams was the current iteration of South Africa against England in the most recent one-dayer at the venue, largely on the back of a 239-run opening stand between de Kock and Hashim Amla.

Amla’s withdrawal from the match due to a viral infection – as well as the longer-term absence of AB de Villiers because of elbow surgery – might have mitigated some of the tourists’ apprehension.

But they would have begun their bowling innings in front of a heaving local crowd nursing a nagging feeling they had pulled up 30-40 runs shy of where they might have ended given the speed of their start.

Jet propelled by David Warner who outscored his recalled opening partner Aaron Finch 36 runs to eight when the pair reached 50 for the first wicket (after eight overs), the Australians maintained a scoring rate of a run per ball for much of the first half of their innings.

However, as the road safety warnings tell us with haste comes carelessness and every time the world champions appeared set to grab a hold of the game another wicket fell off the back.

Warner miscued to mid-off trying to force on the rise, and Finch fell to a line-ball ground-level catch that Wayne Parnell smartly plucked at short fine leg to slow the charge.

Finch’s wicket was the first in international cricket for 20-year-old all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo, a member of South Africa’s triumphant Under-19 World Cup squad in 2014, but his second that arrived three balls later is one he’s likely to treasure through to retirement

When he beat the bat of Steve Smith, who seemed so affronted by the youngster’s temerity that he wasted his team’s sole review on a delivery headed for the top of middle, with the Australia needing to view just one slow motion replay on the big screed to realise he had erred.

Having got off the mark with an imperious flick for six beyond backward square, Mitchell Marsh maintained the momentum with 31 from 25 balls until his guided a catch to the keeper.

And Travis Head fell in fashion hauntingly similar to the recent Sri Lanka adventure when he failed to read – or reach – leg spinner Imran Tahir’s wrong-un and was smartly stumped.

Throughout much of this flurry that saw Australia in danger of being prematurely bowled out at 5-172 midway through their 50-over complement stood George Bailey, taking his time to find his tempo and his range.

Not that his knock was devoid of risk.

Not for his batting partners, anyway.

A misjudged single in the 21st over would have accounted for Travis Head had Parnell’s throw hit the stumps, and another one seven overs later did for Matthew Wade who departed the middle with more than a few words of advice for his fellow Tasmanian.

But true to character, Bailey did not allow a couple of setbacks ruffle him from his task.

He fashioned a crucial if conservative 79-run union with John Hastings for the seventh wicket that saw Hastings post his maiden ODI half-century at a scoring rate almost double that of his specialist batting partner.

However, having carried Australia into the final five overs with a few wickets up their sleeve, the innings then misfired on re-entry as a succession of batters holed out in the final phase with just 23 runs scored from the last 30 deliveries.

Two of which yielded wickets for Dale Steyn on his return to the Proteas’ ODI line-up, his first one-day scalps in almost a year salving the reality they both came via wild slogs to the outfield to end a spell that cost 65 runs.

His second-most expensive in 21 ODIs against his arch-rivals.

The heroes: AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli continue to write their own scripts and redefine the art of batting. The two best batsmen in the world both scored centuries – De Villiers 129 from 52, Kohli 109 from 55 – to propel the Royal Challengers to a score of 248 from 20 overs. Between them the pair hit an incredible 20 sixes and 15 fours in a partnership of 229 from 98 balls. De Villiers started with a bang, hitting four boundaries in the first seven balls he faced. For the next hour it was demolition job as the South African executed every shot in the book to bring up his ton in just 43 balls. Kohli, on the other hand, played second fiddle to De Villiers early on before going berserk at the end. The Indian star bought up his fifty in 39 balls but in his next 16 balls he scored 59 runs to bring up his third IPL ton this season. Batting simply cannot get any better than this.
WATCH: De Villiers hammers unbeaten 129

The records: The partnership of 229 between De Villiers and Kohli was the highest in T20 cricket and it was also just the second instance in T20 cricket of two batsmen from the same team scoring a hundred. RCB’s score of 248 was second highest this IPL season and, incredibly, De Villiers and Kohli added 112 runs in the final five overs; previously no team had scored more than 100 in the last five overs of a T20 innings. Click here for all the numbers from the AB-Kohli show

Quick Single: The numbers behind an incredible evening

The victim: Mystery spinner Shivil Kaushik might have bamboozled batsmen during his initial matches, but tonight he ran into an AB-Kohli tornado. Handed the ball by Brendon McCullum to bowl the penultimate over of the innings, Kaushik was hammered to all parts by Kohli as the over went for 6,4,6,6,6,2, adding 30 runs and giving Kaushik the figures of 3-0-50-0.
WATCH: Kohli hammers third century in seven innings

The six: There were 20 of them in the Bangalore innings but the one from AB De Villiers from the second ball he faced was an absolute gem. Facing the mystery spinner Kaushik, De Villiers jumped on the back foot and lifted the ball over the cover boundary for an extraordinary six.

South Africa thrashed Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their final game at the World Twenty20.

Sri Lanka reached 45-0 but then lost all 10 wickets for 75 runs to slip to 120 all out, with Kyle Abbott, Aaron Phangiso and Farhaan Behardien each taking two wickets.

Hashim Amla made an unbeaten 56 in a comfortable chase that an AB de Villiers six completed with 14 deliveries to spare.

Both teams had already been eliminated.
Group 1 table
Sorry Sri Lanka

This was a horrible display from Sri Lanka, who arrived as the defending champions but leave having beaten only Afghanistan.

Without injured captain Angelo Mathews, their middle-order fell apart after openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dinesh Chandimal raced to 45 in 28 balls.

Left-arm spinner Phangiso was hit for 10 runs from the first two balls he bowled but, later in the same over, bowled both Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne in successive deliveries.

As South Africa, in particular the excellent leg-spin of Imran Tahir, took pace off the ball, Sri Lanka perished to poor shots and sloppy running.
Jeffrey Vandersay
Defending champions Sri Lanka won only once at the 2016 World Twenty20
Late pride for the Proteas

South Africa finish third in Group 1, behind West Indies and England, who play India and New Zealand respectively in the semi-finals.

They may feel unfortunate not to be in the last four – their two defeats both came in the last over of the match – but this was the most comfortable of victories.

Amla was never troubled, occasionally taking boundaries behind square on the off side or wristily whipping through the leg, including one six.

He lost Quinton de Kock to a direct hit from Dilshan and Faf du Plessis to an erroneous lbw, the latter allowing De Villiers to arrive and belt the winning runs off a Suranga Lakmal full toss.
What they said

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis: “Unfortunately we played our best game tonight when we were already out. We should have won the first game when we scored 230 and not to get over the line against West Indies was disappointing. I’ve picked up a few grey hairs in this tournament but hopefully I’ll still be here in four years’ time.”

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal: “You can’t say every time you are a rebuilding team. Someone has to put their hand up and perform well. Batting has let us down throughout the tournament. We didn’t execute in the middle and that’s why we lost.”

Man of the Series Ben Stokes

The hosts needed little more than an hour on the final day to reduce England, who won the series 2-1, from 52 for three to 101 all out with Rabada returning match figures of 13-144 to confirm his rich potential. The 20-year-old’s figures are second only to Makhaya Ntini’s 13-132 against West Indies in 2005 and Rabada became the youngest South African to take 10 wickets in a test match.

Although the series had already been decided, the victory was a welcome one for South Africa after a run of nine games without success stretching back more than a year had caused them to be knocked off the top of the world rankings by India. “The boys were fired up for this test and we’ll enjoy the celebrations,” captain AB de Villiers said at the presentation ceremony.

“We showed a lot of character and hopefully we can build on this now. There is a bright future for us.”

Chasing an unlikely victory target of 382 on a wearing wicket, England’s hopes of batting out the day were undone by a combination of rash stroke-making and excellent swing bowling.

James Taylor (24) got a snorter from Morne Morkel (3-36) that brushed his glove and was caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock to kickstart a procession of England batsmen.

Joe Root (20), who had already been dropped by De Kock off Dane Piedt, drove wildly at the spinner and was caught at slip by Dean Elgar.

Rabada then got in on the act as he was made to celebrate his record-breaking 10-wicket haul twice — first having Jonny Bairstow (14) caught at slip off a no-ball and then inducing another edge from the very next delivery to De Kock.

Man-of-the-series Ben Stokes (10) was caught at deep midwicket off Morkel as he fell into a short-ball trap, before Rabada cleaned up the tail efficiently for innings figures of 6-32. “It’s been a disappointing five days with the way we have played,” England skipper Alastair Cook said. “We haven’t quite been on it and had to try hang in there. Credit to South Africa, they played well.” The teams will now play a five-match one-day international series starting on Feb. 3, followed by two Twenty20 games. – Agencies