Pakistan take on South Africa in an ODI series struggling for relevance

ODI cricket in 2025 is a bit like a premium tablet, a product in search of a use case rather than the other way around. It was revolutionary when it first came out, but now most of its functions can be better catered to by something bigger and more luxurious, or smaller and more easily mass-produced. But since it already exists, justifications for its existence have to be manufactured, and they tend to take the form of niche situations. Perhaps you're on a flight, where you can't bring your laptop, and your phone is too small. Or, in the case of ODI cricket, maybe a World Cup is just around the corner.

The issue is that most of the time, you're not on a flight, just as most of the time in a four-year cycle, a World Cup is quite far away. It's still two years out from the next one - around this time in 2027. What Pakistan and South Africa can extract of value in Faisalabad to be deployed in Southern Africa half a world and half a cycle away is unclear. Not much else is staked on ODI cricket these days, especially with a T20I World Cup three months away.

Perhaps it's where these three ODIs will be held this week that provides the most meaning to this series. Faisalabad last hosted international cricket 17 years ago, and will become the fifth international venue in Pakistan since cricket returned to the country in 2015. It was due to host two T20Is against Bangladesh in May, but was forced to have its wait extended by another half year after skirmishes between Pakistan and India's armed forces led to the PSL overrunning its schedule, and scrapping the Faisalabad leg of the Bangladesh series altogether.

Faisalabad did, in recent memory, hold what was then billed as a prestigious enough tournament to act as a test case for future international cricket. The 2024 Champions Cup, Pakistan's domestic 50-over competition, was given a glamorous makeover and played at Iqbal stadium. It serves as the most recent reference point for the kind of pitches likely to be served up to Pakistan and South Africa. If much of that tournament, held at a similar time of year, is an indicator, high-scoring games are likely; only in four of the ten group stage matches did the side batting first fail to post 300.

That is par for the course at most ODI venues in Pakistan now, though this is the first time since their ill-fated home Champions Trophy campaign that Pakistan are playing ODI cricket at home. There were two away series losses in New Zealand and the West Indies to compound the misery and raise further questions about this team. These three ODIs right now are unlikely to answer them.

Pakistan have selected a full-strength squad for the series, with Fakhar Zaman back after fitness issues kept him out of the T20Is last week. More excitingly for Pakistan's supporters, the trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah will bowl together again for just the ninth time since they first caught fire at the 2023 Asia Cup. They achieved great success at the backend of last year, winning a series in Australia before whitewashing South Africa, taking 31 of 47 opposition wickets in five games. Replicating that success in Pakistan, though, has proved trickier, as evidenced by their indifferent showings in the Champions Trophy.

South Africa have no such qualms about their ODI form, coming off the back of away series wins in Australia and England following a Champions Trophy run to the semi-finals. Their squad, however, is decidedly not first-choice, bearing something of a resemblance to the one that played a tri-series in Pakistan at the start of the year. Matthew Breetzke, who debuted then, is now captain, while Quinton de Kock's un-retirement provides premium top-order experience to a side that will need plenty of it.

Their biggest concern is likely the bowling on what will be batting-friendly surfaces. Corbin Bosch demonstrated he could bother Pakistan in the T20Is, but he didn't get enough support from the other seamers. In that tri-series earlier this year, run-scoring was not a problem for South Africa. They put up 304 against New Zealand and 352 in their game against Pakistan, but a bowling unit denuded of their best assets failed to defend either.

Ultimately, any result of this series risks being dismissed in a week's time as an irrelevance to any larger picture. The cricket will be entertaining in the moment, especially for Faisalabad's starved viewers, but it is likely to be little more than a dopamine hit. Not unlike the reasons for buying a tablet.