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| Shahid Afridi picked up three wickets as Pakistan easily defended 209 against South Africa in Dubai. |
Pakistan 209 (Shehzad 58, McLaren 4-34) beat South Africa 143 (McLaren 29*, Afridi 3-26) by 66 runs. A seemingly below-par score was defended for the second time in the series as Pakistan out-spun and out-thought South Africa to level the rubber. Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez shared six wickets among them on a surface which facilitated more turn than expected and against a line-up whose technical weaknesses against the art were exposed yet again. Mohammad Irfan, also, continued to impress with his three.
In a battle of the two attacks, South Africa's would have been satisfied with their work when they limited Pakistan to a total below the first innings average of 228. Their seamers did the job mainly through Morne Morkel, who generated extra bounce and used the short ball well, and Ryan McLaren, whose changes of pace worked. Those two took seven wickets together and conceded 72 runs in the 20 overs they bowled. Their efforts went in vain as the batsmen collapsed, with no-one managing a score over 30. Afridi fell on his sword, giving Morkel a third wicket, while Saeed Ajmal used the only review to unsuccessfully contest an lbw decision off a McLaren off-cutter. Pakistan could not muster much after that and will need a strong performance from their attack if they are to level the series.
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