What a superb achievement from Pakistan to become the first-ever ODI team to whitewash South Africa in South Africa. The Proteas only have themselves to blame. They were average on the field, and with the bat, it was only Heinrich Klaasen. There is more to ponder for the Temba Bavuma-led unit before the red-ball action begins on Boxing Day in Centurion. A crucial couple of Test matches for the Proteas as a spot in the WTC final is at stake.
There are a few other Boxing Day Test matches that start across the globe. Stay tuned with us for all those actions, but for now, it's me, AkshayaKrishna Polya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentators Anirudh Modi and Deepak Prakash, who, alongside our scorer/analyst Zeeshan Naiyer, brought you all the live coverage of this Pink ODI. We will meet again. Until then, it's cheers!
Pakistan players had already collected the series winner's trophy. Now, they must return with their skipper and pose for the photographs. Exceptional performance from the Men in Green, who have now sealed the ODI series in Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa and all under the leadership of Mohammad Rizwan.
Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan Captain): "Always proud moment for us because the national expects that out of us. As a team we believe only in hardwork and leave the rest to God. We practice that and hope for the best. Second ODI was a perfect example of a team performance and that makes me happy.
Playing out of the country is not easy and South Africa is a tough team. The team trusted each other and helped each other in difficult time which got us the result. I don't want to praise him more because he needs to do this every match for us and hopefully he does the same in future too."
Temba Bavuma (South Africa): "Obviously, a disappointing end to the series. We, as a team, have ended the series with more questions than answers.
We need to have deep introspection as a team and individually.
Klaasen was the shinning light. He has been performing over the years. He was batting on a different pitch. We saw why he is seen with such high regard.
We will be donning the whites. We need to get over these emotions as quite a few of us will be playing the Tests."
Saim Ayub (Player of the Match and Series): "It's very special because we won, credit goes to the entire team. This award is for everyone, they all chipped in and helped me to win this award. Scoring runs in winning causes is most important, as a youngster I learnt from every mistake and every experience. Thanks to my seniors for helping me learn."