The second and final Twenty20 international in the series between South Africa and Pakistan is scheduled to be held on March 3, 2013 at Buffalo Park, East London. The first game was abandoned without a ball being bowled at Kingsmead on Friday.
It rained for most of the afternoon and was still falling at the planned time for the toss. There were large puddles in the outfield though the pitch area was covered and as per the ground staff, it would have taken nearly two hours to get the field ready for play if the rain stopped. Hence, the match was called off by the umpires.
The confidence levels of the South Africans are soaring high after defeating Pakistan 3-0 in the recently concluded Test series. They would definitely like to keep the same momentum going by winning the T20 game.
The South African team, led by Faf Du Plessis, are equipped with talented players who can upset the opposition team on any given day. While AB de Villiars is an amazing middle order batsman, Kyle Abbott is a brilliant bowler who made an impressive Test debut against Pakistan. He would be keen on letting the selectors know that he can do wonders in the shorter version of the game as well.
Pakistan, on the other hand is considered as a terrific team in the T20 format. They have some impressive records that make them one of the best teams in the T20 ranking list. They would like to win back the confidence of the selectors and fans by displaying a fighting performance against the Proteas.
Besides this, Pakistan has defeated South Africa on a number of occasions and also has brilliant T20 accomplishments against the best teams in the world. They have some remarkable players in the team and would hope to click as a unit.
The South Africans have an edge over Pakistan after outplaying them completely in the Test series. Moreover, they know that the pitch conditions would prove to be difficult for the Pakistani players as they are not too experienced in playing on the bouncy and fast pitches.