Pakistan v South Africa betting tips, prediction & odds; 1st T20 preview

Welcome to our Pakistan v South Africa betting tips, prediction and odds analysis for the 1st T20 International Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Thursday, February 11. 

This match is the first three in the T20 series, all in Lahore, and follow on from the two-Test series won 2-0 by Pakistan, with the final Test developing into a tight and fairly tense contest.

Pakistan are red-hot favourites to win the opening T20 and the series, and not just because South Africa have won only three of their past 11 T20 Internationals.

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Many of the Proteas’ star players left Pakistan after the second Test to prepare for the three-Test home series against Australia, which has since been postponed with the Australians unwilling to travel.

This means that such players as captain Quinton de Kock, pacemen Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, and senior batsmen Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen will all miss this T20 series.

However, it does give the Proteas the chance to experiment, with the T20 World Cup in India looming later this year. Wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen is back from a bout with COVID-19 to captain the team.

They will come up against a very confident Pakistan side relishing the chance to play international cricket on home soil again. The Pakistan team has been exceptional at the shortest form of the game, though has slipped to fourth in the ICC rankings compared with fifth for the South Africans.

Bookmakers have made Pakistan around $1.47 favourites to win the opening match, with the Proteas as long as $2.80.

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Pakistan v South Africa schedule, results

Test matches
January 26-30: 1st Test, National Stadium, Karachi: Pakistan 378 (Fawad Alam 109, Faheem Ashraf 64; ) and 3-90 d South Africa 220 (Dean Elgar 58; Yasir Shah 3-54) and 245 by seven wickets. Player of the match: Fawad Alam.
February 4-8: 2nd Test, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Pakistan 272 (Faheem Ashraf 78no, Babar Azam 77; Anrich Nortje 5-56) and 298 (Mohammad Rizwan 115no; George Linde 5-64) d South Africa 201 (Temba Bavuma 44no; Hasan Ali 5-54) and 274 (Aiden Markram 108; Hasan Ali 5-60) by 95 runs. Player of the match: Hasan Ali.

T20 Internationals
February 11: 1st T20 International, Lahore (day-night)
February 13: 1st T20 International, Lahore (day-night)
February 14: 1st T20 International, Lahore (day-night)



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Pakistan 1st T20 squad

Babar Azam (c), Aamer Yamin, Amad Butt, Asif Ali, Danish Aziz, Faheem Ashraf, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Afridi, Usman Qadir, Zafar Gohar, Zahid Mehmood.

South Africa 1st T20 squad

Heinrich Klaasen (c, wk), Nandre Burger, Okuhle Cele, Junior Dala, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, George Linde, Janneman Malan, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, JJ Smuts, Jacques Snyman, Glenton Stuurman, Pite van Biljon (wk).

Continue reading for our free Pakistan v South Africa tips for the opening T20 at Lahore starting on Thursday. 

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Pakistan v South Africa 1st T20 odds

Head to head odds: Pakistan $1.47, South Africa $2.70

Man of the match betting:
$6 Babar Azam
$9 Yasir Shah
$10 Azhar Ali
$11 Abid Ali, Dean Elgar, Kagiso Rabada, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock
$13+ others

Top run-scorer Pakistan:
$2.62 Babar Azam
$4.50 Mohammad Rizwan
$5 Haider Ali
$5.50 Hussain Talat
$7 Khushdil Shah

Top run-scorer South Africa:
$4.34 Reeza Hendricks
$4.50 Heinrich Klaasen, Janneman Malan
$6 David Miller, Ryan Rickelton 
$7 JJ Smuts

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Pakistan v South Africa betting tips

Our cricket tipsters have examined the odds and found several Pakistan v South Africa tips for the first T20I.

Babar Azam player of the match

Babar Azam is the No.2-ranked batsman in T20 cricket under the ICC rankings. Azam is a world-class player and is the best batsman on display in this by a fair margin. He has had two Tests to regain his form and we are happy to have him in our corners.

South Africa most sixes at $2.38

The South Africans will go in as heavy underdogs but they do have plenty of batting firepower. The $2.38 with Unibet about them hitting more maximums than Pakistan looks great value.

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Pakistan v South Africa prediction 11/2/2021

This a good chance to look at the second tier of players from South Africa. They have some interesting emerging talent. But they are up against it here against a Pakistan team that has its tail up. This is T20 cricket though so it takes only one big knock to change the result, so we will steer clear of the outright markets with Pakistan so short in the betting. Our final Pakistan v South Africa prediction? Pakistan to win. 

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Pakistan v South Africa 1st T20 details

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