Mohammad Nawaz blitz takes Pakistan to 269 after Burger four-for

Half-centuries from Saim Ayub and Salman Agha - who shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 92 - as well as a career-best 59 from Mohammad Nawaz helped Pakistan to a competitive total in the second ODI in Rawalpindi. South Africa's two-seam, four-spin attack kept a lid on their hosts for the most part of the innings and will be disappointed to have conceded well over 250.

Pakistan were 179 for 5 after 40 overs, and 210 for 6 after 45, but Nawaz blitzed his way to a better-than-a-run-a-ball half-century, while Pakistan took 59 runs off the last five overs.

Still, South Africa had plenty to be pleased with from their efforts in the field. Left-arm seamer Nandre Burger and legspinner Nqabayomzi Peter, who both sat out the first game, bagged career-best figures of 4 for 46 and 3 for 55 respectively. Corbin Bosch, Donovan Ferreira and Bjorn Fortuin all conceded at under six runs an over.

South Africa struck early, when Fakhar Zaman gloved an attempted pull off a Burger short ball to Quinton de Kock in the opening over. Bosch took the other new ball and thought he had Babar Azam with his second delivery, which seamed back in and struck him on his front pad. Babar was given out on the field, but Ayub convinced him to review. Ball-tracking showed the ball was bouncing over the stumps.

It continued to be a testing over for Babar, who was beaten twice more as Bosch worked him over. Burger got the reward when Babar was squared up and edged to Ferreira at first slip. He scored just one run. Pakistan were in deeper trouble four balls later, when Mohammed Rizwan fetched a Burger ball from in front of fifth stump and chopped it onto his leg stump.

Pakistan were 22 for 3 in the fifth over, and during his spell, Bosch looked like he would take a wicket with almost every ball. He finished an eventual four-over spell with figures of 0 for 8, before being replaced by Fortuin in the last over before the powerplay. Pakistan's relief was clear, as Saim pushed at a tossed-up ball and found the gap between point and cover.

The high scoring rate did not last too long. Fortuin and Ferreira dotted up the batters. Pakistan scored just six runs from the next four overs, and the pressure told. Fortuin was close to a breakthrough when South Africa reviewed an lbw shout against Salman Ali Agha, who missed a sweep, but extra bounce took the ball over the stumps according to ball-tracking. George Linde took over from Fortuin and kept things relatively tight too, though the innings' first six came off him when Saim hit him over long-on.

Fortuin was back on at the other end and operated in tandem with legspinner Peter, as Pakistan started to settle. Saim got to his second ODI fifty off Fortuin from 61 balls, and was well-placed to convert it into a big score. But stand-in captain Breetzke saw an opportunity to force an error as the innings approached the halfway stage. He brought Bosch back and the decision worked, albeit not in the way Breetzke may have imagined. Ayub drove the ball back at Bosch with some force, and Bosch took a good low catch in his follow through to pick up his first wicket of the innings.

Agha was on 34 off 62 balls at the time and showed no signs of speeding up. That put the onus on Hussain Talat, who managed to help a Bosch ball bowled on his pads fine to the boundary. However, he couldn't do the same against Peter, instead getting a leading edge on a ball that gave the bowler a return catch. The wicket left Pakistan on a precarious 131 for 5 after 30 overs.

Agha made his way to fifty off 83 balls. Despite his initial low strike-rate, there were hints of an injection of pace. As the death overs approached, he slog swept Fortuin for four, and Nawaz danced down the track to hit the left-arm spinner for six. Fortuin eventually finished wicketless, but conceded only 46 runs in his 10 overs.

With ten overs left to go, Pakistan had not even reached 180, but Nawaz showed some intent when he hit Bosch over his head for six. Agha hit Bosch over cover and only just missed the boundary ropes. However, Bosch had the final say, when he bowled Agha with an inswinging yorker.

The next four overs brought 20 runs, and then, Faheem Ashraf decided he had to hit out. He took 12 of the 13 runs in Bosch's penultimate over as he went too full. Burger corrected, banged the ball in short and had Ashraf caught off a slower ball at deep midwicket. Bosch did not get to bowl out as Breetzke went to Peter, who got another return catch when Shaheen Shah Afridi top-edged a delivery trying to go big.

Mohammad Wasim scored 10 runs off Bosch's last over, before Nawaz reached his fifty with a massive six off the first ball of the final over. Nawaz hit a four and another six before giving Peter his third caught and bowled. This catch was the best of the lot, as he had to judge a high chance.

All the same, Pakistan ended on a high - on 269 for 9 - when Naseem Shah finished with another six in an over that cost Peter 22.