Pakistan vs South Africa, 1st ODI at Faisalabad, PAK vs SA, Nov 04 2025 - Match Result

11.20pm And that's all we have for you today. Join us again in a few days' time for the second ODI, at the same venue. On behalf of Sudarshanan, Harshith and Sudeep, this is Abhimanyu signing off.

11.12pm Time for the presentation ceremony.

Shaheen Shah Afridi: "I think it's a normal game for me and nothing special. Whatever situation just do your best and nothing more. I think we thought maybe we'll get some help early on with the ball and there will be dew in second innings but it totally changed. I would give credit to our batsmen, they handled it well. We need experienced batting like this. Credit goes to them, they batted really well on a tough surface. [On nail biters] That always happens but we'll try to make it not happen again. Thanks to the Faisalabad crowd. Cricket here after a long time and thank you for coming out in big numbers."

Matthew Breetzke: "I think we were 20-30 runs short. We lost wickets in clusters. Lot of positives. Obviously Lhuan-dre is a very special player with a bright future and to have Quinton back, he batted nicely. So lot of positives. They were always favourites towards the end but proud of the bowlers how they fought well and took it to the last over. We kept believing, but unluckily it didn't happen."

POTM, Salman Agha: "I would have finished the game. It was on me and I would have finished the game. But yeah I think it's a great win. I was expecting dew here but there was no dew, and without dew it was tough in the second innings, it was turning and staying low and reversing. But me and Rizwan spoke that if we bat through, we'll win, and that partnership was important. We knew that if we have a partnership, we have enough time. We just want to respect bowlers where needed and when we need to score runs, we need to just communicate who will take charge and that's what we do when we are batting together."

11pm Two solid partnerships -- one between the openers Ayub and Fakhar and another between Rizwan and Agha -- built the back of this chase, that at some points looked to be slipping away from Pakistan. However, they hold their nerves and despite making it look much tougher than it was, win the first international match here at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad in over 17 years! Shaheen Shah Afridi begins his ODI captaincy stint with a win, having played no small part himself. South Africa tried to claw their way back, but Rizwan's wicket fell too late and even after that Hussain Talat played a neat cameo.

With the bat, South Africa's innings started similarly to Pakistans', with the openers blazing away before a few quick wickets slowed them down. As the innings went on, spinners found more grip and the quicks also got some reverse-swing and in the end South Africa's total was a few runs short of what they'd have aimed for after being put in to bat.

Aman: "Hollywood got nothing on them! If there's no drama, there's no cricket in Pakistan! This is how we make one sided game super spicy! Way to go Pakistan!"

Three balls. Two wickets. One run. That's the equation. Naseem Shah, who can swing a few big ones but just needs a single run right now, comes out to the crease

South Africa and Pakistan have taken this game into the final over! Four needed off six balls. Afridi on strike and Corbin Bosch to bowl

Amal: "Still Pakistan's match to lose."

sheikh: "kind of unnecessary that shot from agha. had already got that boundary in the over"

Shan: "PCT never finishes any game without drama"

Shaheen Shah Afridi, in his first game as captain, now has to do the job with the bat. Here's Ferreira now! With two left-handers

Hasan Nawaz goes, Mohammed Nawaz enters. He was brilliant in the field and with the ball. Can he finish this game off with the bat now, and prevent any further jitters?

Shayan: "@Attiya and @Stoffels please stop cutting the onions man!"