South Africa suffered a six-wicket defeat to New Zealand in their first match of the tri-series. They will challenge hosts Pakistan in their upcoming game and the winner will eventually qualify for the final, as both teams lost their opening clash of the tournament. Meanwhile, despite several of their key players missing due to SA20, the Proteas produced an excellent show with the bat and the team hopes to produce something similar to get the job done against Pakistan.
After the completion of the SA20, a few of their senior cricketers - Heinrich Klaasen, Tony de Zorzi, Keshav Maharaj and Corbin Bosch have joined the squad for the Pakistan game. It strengthened the South Africa squad that can throw a massive challenge to the Mohammad Rizwan-led side in the upcoming game, especially when they didn’t perform well in the opening game against New Zealand.
Meanwhile, ahead of the match, Klaasen noted that some of the players reached late last night and they have some homework to do before hitting the field. He also wants to keep the upcoming Champions Trophy in mind before challenging Pakistan and noted that it will put a smile on his face if the home team isn’t involved in the tri-series final.
“We just got together today, basically the boys only arrived at 2 o'clock this morning. For the guys that are new to the squad, we've got to do a little bit of homework, we've got a nice day out to face these conditions and see what it is like" Klaasen said in the press conference.
"Obviously there's a bigger picture in mind as well. The ICC [Champions] trophy is also in play next week, so it's a good exercise for us. If we can knock them out and play in the final, and the home country is not involved, that will at least put a smile on my face." he concluded.