World Cup 2019: Pakistan and South Africa look to play for pride at Home of Cricket

The encounter 30 of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will witness Pakistan locking horns with South Africa at the home of cricket Lord's in London. The game was supposed to be one of the big matches of this tournament but it looks like this contest is going to have no bearing on the overall result. Pakistan has won just one match out of its five while South Africa has won one out of its six. Both the teams are virtually out of the race for a semi-final berth unless something truly disastrous happens to one of the top-4 teams.

That does not mean there is nothing to play for. Both South Africa and Pakistan are proud cricketing nations that are hurting due to their poor performances. The teams are receiving a lot of criticism from their fans and some players may be playing for their careers.

Both the teams have some players that are at the end of their careers and a couple of them may well have played their last international game. It would have been a week since Pakistan lost its match against India and suffered a tidal wave of criticism. The team would be very keen to get on the ground and start playing some cricket because the only way to shut down this reaction is to start winning again.Pakistan recently played a series against South Africa where they won two matches and showed that they can compete. They must remember those times and cone into this match with confidence.

Team Combination: 

Pakistan: 

Pakistan team had a miserable outing against India at Old Trafford in Manchester. In batting, the team looked all over the place. However, it looks highly unlikely that team will tinker with their batting line up. In bowling, it is highly likely that Shaheen Afridi replaces Hasan Ali into the set up. Hasan hasn't had the best of the World Cup and struggled to break important partnerships. 

Probable XI: Imam Ul Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c & wk), Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, and Shaheen Afridi. 

South Africa: 

South Africa will look to start fresh against Pakistan, and with this, they might well be tempted to bring JP Duminy back into the set up to make their middle-order look strong. 

Probable XI: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markaram, Faf du Plessis (c), Rassie van der Dussen, JP Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir

Who will win? 

On current form, and the way World Cup has panned out for these two sides, South Africa has slight edge over Pakistan. 

Weather and pitch

The build-up to the game has been marred by rain.The weather report for Sunday is sunny with some cloud cover but no threat of rain.

Stadium and timings

The match will be played at Lord's and the match will begin at 3:00 PM IST.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Pakistan is currently placed at ninth spot in points table. 
• South Africa lost against New Zealand in their last World Cup game. 
• This will be the first game at Lord's.