An all too familiar collapse for Pakistan

It was a sight all too familiar and something which has become synonym of Pakistan in the last decade. After putting themselves in a winning position, the volatile and unpredictable Pakistani batting again succumbed under pressure and collapsed, giving South Africa an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. Dale Steyn was the protagonist of the win with a career-best five-for.Openers gave RSA good startAn unchanged South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan made a couple of changes - Junaid Khan came in for Wahab Riaz while debutant, Sohaib Maqsood was drafted in at the expense of Umar Amin. Hashim Amla looked in ominous touch and assumed the role of the aggressor at the start. He got away a flurry of boundaries - he clipped through mid-wicket, whipped to fine leg and hit some exquisite cover drives. Mohammad Irfan and Sohail Tanvir were guilty of straying down the leg side and of bowling a number of half volleys and paid the price for the same. Quinton de Kock was given an early reprieve when he was dropped on 2 at first slip by Mohammad Hafeez off the bowling of Sohail Tanvir in the 4th over of the innings. He played second fiddle to Amla as South Africa mustered a healthy 45 off the mandatory powerplay. The pair continued to pick the singles and twos, rotate the strike and put away the loose deliveries to the boundary. The platform had been built. South Africa had moved to 87/0 after 18 overs.Spinners get Pakistan back in gameMohammad Hafeez gave Pakistan the first breakthrough when he castled Amla for 46 in the 19th over. He, along with Afridi kept the new batsman, Faf du Plessis under check and built the pressure on the South Africa Number 3. The Proteas reached the three-figure mark in the 21st over. An edgy du Plessis charged down the track to Mohammad Irfan only to hold out to Saeed Ajmal at covers. South Africa had lost their second wicket in the 27th over at the score of 129.de Kock builds stand with captainSouth African, skipper, AB de Villiers joined de Kock at the crease. The pair slowly but steadily built a partnership and laid the platform for the lower order to launch an offensive. They did not take any risk and played the balling on its merit. 35 runs were taken off the batting powerplay. Quinton de Kock registered his maiden ODI ton (off 127 balls) with a towering six over wide long-on off the last ball of the 39th over, bowled by Mohammad Irfan.Bowlers lead Pakistan fightbackJunaid Khan gave Pakistan a double blow shortly after the powerplay getting rid of AB de Villiers for 30 before seeing the back of the centurion Quinton de Kock for a magnificent 112. Mohammad Hafeez picked up his second and sent the dangerous David Miller packing for 5 in the next over. The South Africans had lost momentum and their progress had been derailed. Just 16 runs were scored between overs 40-44 with the loss of 3 crucial wickets.Duminy, McLaren propel South AfricaJP Duminy and Ryan McLaren joined hands and got South Africa back on track. Sohail Tanvir was taken for 11 in the 48th over before Ajmal was heaved for two maximums in the next - the penultimate over resulting in 15 courtesy two powerful slog sweeps! McLaren ended the innings with a blistering cover drive off Tanvir, which also raised the fifty of the partnership off just 38 deliveries. He remained unbeaten on 21 off 18 balls. Duminy bettered him by a run facing an equal number of deliveries. South Africa had put up a competitive 266/5 off their allotted 50 overs. Hafeez was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 9 overs, 34 runs and 2 wickets. Junaid Khan also chipped in with a couple.Pakistan openers off to sedate startDale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe maintained a tight leash on the Pakistani openers, Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad. They bowled a fullish length just on and outside the off-stump at good pace. The batsmen were circumspect and content to weather the initial storm. Pakistan had crawled to 8/0 after 5 overs. The first boundary, a perfect straight drive by Shehzad off Tsotsobe only came in the 6th over. Hafeez got going with a boundary off Steyn to fine leg in the next. Pakistan were now looking to break the shackles and the incumbent pair were finding the gaps and the boundaries more regularly. They had moved to 31/0 after the mandatory powerplay. The partnership started to blossom and the pair grew in confidence. Ryan McLaren was taken for 10 in the 16th over before Imran Tahir was hammered for a six in his very first by Shehzad. Pakistan had moved to 80/0 after 20 overs.South Africa fightback with quick wicketsA brilliant piece of fielding by AB de Villiers gave South Africa their first breakthrough as Ahmed Shehzad was run out for 43 in the 19th over. This triggered a mini-collapse. Imran Tahir cleaned up the other opener, Hafeez for 33 a couple of overs later before Tsotsobe dismissed Asad Shafiq for 1 in the next. Pakistan were reduced to 86/3 in the 22nd over.The rebuildingSkipper, Misbah-ul-Haq and Sohaib Maqsood resurrected the Pakistani innings. The debutant looked impressive and slammed Tsotsobe through midwicket for a boundary before flicking the bowler over extra-cover for the same result in his next over. Misbah was content in giving the strike to his partner and play himself in which has become typical of the Pakistani captain. Maqsood shows glimpses of InzamamMaqsood was in his elements now. He pulled Morne Morkel in front of square for a magnificent boundary in the 30th over before launching into Tahir in the next for a six over long-on - there were so many uncanny similarities in his style of play to the original Sultan of Multan! Maybe, the reincarnation of Inzamam had arrived! The partnership grew from strength to strength and soon raised the fifty-run stand. Pakistan had quickly and swiftly moved to 150/3 after 33 overs. The right-handed batsman raced to a fantastic fifty on debut off just 49 deliveries off a beautiful flick to backward square-leg off Morne Morkel. His knock included 5 fours and 2 sixes. Dale Steyn was brought back into the attack and did not let his captain down. Maqsood was caught by a diving de Villiers at mid-off and departed for 56. An excellent 88 run-stand came to an end. Pakistan had moved to 174/4 in the 37th over. The required run-rate had creeped up to 7.5.Captain leads the wayThe move to send in the pinch-hitter, Sohail Tanvir ahead of the more accomplished, Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi did not reap any dividends for Pakistan as Steyn saw the back of the southpaw for just 1. Misbah struck a boundary and a six off McLaren off the last over of the batting powerplay and in the process notched up his 32nd half-century in ODI cricket. The second set of fielding restrictions resulted in 32 runs. Pakistan needed 72 off the final 10 overs with 5 wickets in hand. Misbah had paced his innings beautifully and was the key for Pakistan.Steyn fifer rocks PakistanUmar Akmal took the pressure of Misbah by picking up a couple of boundaries. The pair had added 48 off 44 deliveries before Steyn dismissed Akmal for 22. Pakistan needed 39 off 23. Misbah had overtaken George Bailey of Australia as the leading run-scorer in ODIs in 2013. Shahid Afridi walked in. Dale Steyn wasn't finished though. He rocked Pakistan sending their skipper, Misbah and then Ajmal packing back in the same over. The match had turned on its head. Steyn had picked up three wickets in the same over and his tally of 5 wickets in the match were his best ODI figures. The rest of the proceedings were a mere formality. Afridi was run-out for 3 as Pakistan capitulated for 238 in 49.2 overs. Pakistan had collapsed and lost their last 5 wickets for a mere 10 runs. Steyn's fifer was only his second in ODI cricket and it had annihilated the Pakistani line-up at the death. South Africa's 28 run-win gave them a memorable series win over Pakistan as they took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the 5-match series. South Africa also kept their unbeaten record of not losing a bilateral series to Pakistan intact.