Benoni, (South Africa), Dec 06: Faisal Iqbal scored an impressive half-century as the touring Pakistanis won a rain-affected match against South Africa by three wickets at Willowmoore park. Iqbal, 21, a nephew of Pakistani batting legend Javed Miandad, hit 59 as the tourists reached a revised target of 157 off 29 overs after almost three hours of play was lost because of rain.
The young batsman, who has played in seven one-day internationals, steadied the innings after both opening batsmen, Taufeeq Umar and Saleem Elahi, were out without scoring. The Pakistanis slipped to 40 for four before Iqbal and Abdur Razzaq (24) put on 61 for the fifth wicket. After Iqbal was run out, having scored his 59 runs off 75 balls with three fours and two sixes, a slimmed-down Inzamam-ul-Haq made an unbeaten 23 off 16 balls to see the Pakistanis to victory with two balls to spare.
Jacques Rudolph boosted his outside chance of being selected for South Africa`s World Cup squad when he made 95 for the South African team against a strong Pakistani bowling attack. Bureau Report