Pakistan cricket team players came out wearing pink jerseys for the first T20I encounter against South Africa in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. The pink jersey signified their support towards the “Pink Ribbon Pakistan” campaign, which is aimed towards increasing awareness about breast cancer. The South Africa cricketers, coaching staff from both teams and the match officials also sported pink ribbons to show support to the campaign. “The Pakistan Cricket Board takes immense pride in using the power and reach of cricket to create awareness about causes that affect our society,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer Sumair Ahmad Syed said.
Coming to the match, Pakistan won the toss and opted to field.
“We are going to bowl first. In Pindi, you never know what to restrict the other team to, we want to bowl as well as possible. We have a few new faces and a few comebacks too so I’m very excited about that. (On Babar and Naseem’s return to the T20I side) They both have been match-winners for Pakistan in the past and I’m happy to have them back. We have two all-rounders, two pacers and Abrar as our spinner. Myself and Saim can also roll our arm over,” Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said at the toss.
For Pakistan, Babar Azam and Naseem Shah returned to the T20I team.
“We wanted to bowl first as well but now we have to bat well and try to restrict them after that. I have a role to bat at No. 6. We are excited to have Quinton de Kock back. He gives us a lot of confidence, not only with the gloves, he gives consistent runs at the top of the order. We have Tony de Zorzi making his debut,” Donovan Ferreira said.
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira(c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Lizaad Williams, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Agha(c), Usman Khan(w), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed
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