South Africa play Pakistan in the fourth ODI on March 21 at Kingsmead in Durban.
It is a do-or-die situation for Pakistan as a loss would mean South Africa win the series but a victory will push it to an exciting decider in Benoni.
The Johannesburg match produced amazing batting display from Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Shahid Afridi but the Proteas turned out to be more powerful on the night. The match saw over 650 runs being scored by both teams.
Graeme Smith has had a poor series so far and will be looking forward to turn things around in Durban to make sure that South Africa clinches the series. Amla and De Villiers played brilliantly and shared a record third wicket stand of 238 that enabled the home side to post a huge total of 343 on the board.
South Africa would expect their top order batsmen to click again in the crucial fourth game and win the series. Ryan McLaren and Lonwabo Tsotsobe did a great job with the ball by claiming three wickets each though the latter gave away more runs in his stipulated ten overs. They will look forward to similar kind of performance in the next game.
Pakistan on the other hand gave a good fight back and managed to reach 309 runs in 48.1 overs. Shahid Afridi was the man for the visiting team who made 88 runs along with Mohammed Hafeez who made an aggressive half-century. Pakistan will expect them to perform well in the decisive fourth game as well.
Irfan Khan may not play the fourth game after suffering from stomach upset during the third ODI. Umar Gul is also facing concerns with fitness that has resulted in calling up Sohail Tanvir in case they don’t play.
It has been learnt that the South Africans are not very happy about the pitch that is prepared for the Kingsmead game. They complained about the surface being too dry and it would take too much turn, which would play in Pakistan’s favor. Pakistan’s strength has always been their spinners and this could prove to be a concern for the Proteas.
South Africa seem to be a better team than the visitors as most of their players have been contributing in every way possible resulting in success of the team. They are the favorites to win the fourth ODI and clinch the series.
The wounded Pakistani team will look at bouncing back with a win to keep their hopes alive in the series.