Birmingham, June 6 (CRICKETNMORE): In-form South Africa will look to seal a spot in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament, while Pakistan will aim to bounce back after being annihilated by India in their Group B match at Edgbaston here on Wednesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pakistan lost their opening game by 124 runs to India through Duckworth-Lewis (D\/L) method in a rain-affected match. This must-win clash against South Africa will need Pakistan to produce a much improved performance to keep their hopes alive in the tournament.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pakistan bowlers operated with wrong length against India and their batsman failed to mount a challenge. The poor fielding efforts only added to their all-around woes. Pacer Mohammad Amir and opener Azhar Ali are the only players who clicked in the opening game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pakistan will most likely play without their frontline left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz for the rest of the Champions Trophy, who picked an ankle injury in the game against India. Left-arm pacer Amir's fitness is also a matter of concern after he had to go off the field with cramps but he should be fine in time to take his place in the playing side.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
All-rounder Faheem Ashraf, batsman Fakhar Zaman and left-arm pacer Junaid Khan are the possible players most likely to come into the Pakistan side.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
South Africa are coming off a brilliant all-round performance against Sri Lanka and will look to continue momentum against Pakistan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With the likes of Hashim Amla and Faf Du Plessis in the batting department and leg-spinner Imran Tahir in the bowling, the Proteas will look to push with an all-round attack against Pakistan. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
A win will see them through to the semi-finals from Group B. Expectedly, there will be no changes to their side that crushed Sri Lanka by 96 runs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The last time these two nations met in an ICC tournament, World No.8 Pakistan came on top, defeating top ranked South Africa by 29 runs by Duckworth-Lewis (D\/L) method.<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pak-vs-sa.jpg", "alt_img": "CT 2017,Preview: In-form South Africa face lacklustre Pakistan ", "alt_title": "CT 2017,Preview: In-form South Africa face lacklustre Pakistan ", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "CT 2017,Preview: In-form South Africa face lacklustre Pakistan ", "seo_desc": "In-form South Africa will look to seal a spot in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament, while Pakistan", "seo_keywords": "South Africa vs Paksiatn, ICC Champions Trophy 2017", "tag": "", "tagging": "", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "0", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "ct-2017-preview-in-form-south-africa-face-lacklustre-pakistan-", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "3440", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "0", "auto_link": "0", "created": "2017-06-06 19:54:00", "updated": "2017-06-06 19:54:00", "img_from": "", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": null, "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "1", "jio_date": "2017-06-06 19:54:00", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2017-06-06 19:54:00", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/ct-2017-preview-in-form-south-africa-face-lacklustre-pakistan-27729" }