Daijiworld Media Network

Johannesburg, Nov 20: After winning the 2 T20Is in the Pakistan leg of the tour (in UAE), South Africa are riding high on confidence and have already named an unchanged squad for the 2 games. On the other hand, Pakistan will be without the services of their ace bowler Mohammad Irfan and would look to explore other bowling options. After a rain-scare just 30 minutes back, Johannesburg was bathed in bright sunlight adorned with a beautiful rainbow. It gave hope to cricket fans to enjoy the first T20I match between South Africa and Pakistan at the Wanderers today.

Pakistan have won the toss and have opted to field.

Du Plessis: The pitch looks fresh with a tinge of grass and we also would have bowled. The field is wet and we are looking at posting a challenging total. Duminy comes in place of ABD, who is rested.

Hafeez: We are bowling first as this is a fresh wicket and it will aid the seamers. Two seniors players, Razzaq and Malik got injured and we coouldn't get a replacement also. Whatever happened at UAE was bad, but we need to move on and perform consistently.

Teams:

Pakistan (Playing XI): Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez(c), Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal(w), Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Bilawal Bhatti, Junaid Khan, Anwar Ali

South Africa (Playing XI): Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock(w), Faf du Plessis(c), Henry Davids, Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Imran Tahir

Preview

Five days after completing a series in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Pakistan square up again in a Twenty20 international at the Wanderers Stadium on Wednesday.

Two Twenty20 games will be followed by three one-day internationals in a tour arranged in haste after a fall-out between the Indian and South African boards led to India cutting short a tour to the republic.

It is the third tour featuring South Africa and Pakistan this year. The Pakistanis played three Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals in South Africa between January and March. In a reciprocal tour which ended last Friday, the two nations clashed in two Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals in the United Arab Emirates.

The tour will serve a double purpose for South Africa. It will reduce the estimated loss of an estimated more than US$10-million caused by the curtailment of the India tour, four one-day internationals and two Twenty20 games were cut from the original itinerary and it will enable the host country's limited overs teams to continue to work towards the elusive goal of winning a global tournament.

Although South Africa's Test team are the undisputed world champions, both the Twenty20 and one-day sides have had mediocre records in recent times. Both made considerable progress in the UAE, where South Africa won the one-day series 4-1 and the Twenty20 series 2-0.

Pakistan, by contrast, have ground to make up after their batsmen in particular let them down in the recent series.

Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan's T20 captain, said in an arrival press conference on Sunday that his players were heartened by their showing in South Africa earlier in the year when they won the only completed 20-overs game and extended South Africa before losing the one-day series 3-2, with their batsmen performing better than they did in the UAE.

'We put up a good show in the shorter formats and we believe in this part of the world, we've done reasonably well,' said Hafeez.

Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore, whose contract will not be renewed when it expires in February, hailed the emergence of the hard-hitting Sohaib Maqsood as a positive from the recent series. But Pakistan will hope for improved form from the likes of Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal.

Pakistan will be without tall left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, one of their better bowlers in the recent series. He suffered a hip injury in the last match in the UAE.

South Africa named an unchanged squad for the two Twenty20 games. A squad for the one-day internationals will be named later in the week. It is widely expected that veteran all-rounder Jacques Kallis will be included. Kallis has not played in a one-day international since February 2012.