Haider sees his team through but it was a comedy of errors from both teams at the death. Pakistan held their nerve. There was that nice little cameo from Wahab Riaz, that dropped catch from Smith and that missed run-out in the final over by Parnell right after he had effected one. A series of incidents decisively turning the game Pakistan's way. They have drawn the series level at 2-2, and the teams face off again on November 8 in the finale. It's been a riveting series thus far and may the final live up to what we've seen thus far. Hang on for a bit, though. We'll get you the details from the presentation.
Arbab Daud: "Three Nailbiting and adrenaline pumping finishes in a row. These two teams are truly paying the cricket lovers of middleast their worth of match tickets back."
It was a near-capacity crowd today and they certainly got the result they wanted. Kepler Wessles, on TV, is speaking of how results like these, three in a row, augur well for ODI cricket. It was a see-saw game. Each time Pakistan got a partnership going, South Africa managed to turn the tables but it was that stand between Haider and Wahab in the end that settled the game.
Presentation time.
Anand: "Today was a Subcontinent day. India having upper hand in the test against Newzeland, Srilanka winning there first ever series win in Australia and at last Pakistan Thrilled everyone against South Africa."
Younis is Man of the Match: "The plan was to play as many overs as possible. If there was a set batsman at the crease, it would have been easy for Razzaq and co. We are working hard and you've seen that from the way we've played in the last three games and hopefully we'll win this series. We had three or four partnerships and we needed them to chase this kind of a score. The main thing is to get partnerships going."
Smith: "Throughout we weren't great in the field. Pakistan had the game in control before Afridi got out. But then we didn't take our chances. Disappointing to lose. We battled through with the ball, there was a lot of dew around. Pakistan held their nerve in the end and it sets up a nice game on Monday."
Afridi: "The way we bowled, we did well.