RSA VS PAK - 3rd ODI, Pakistan tour of South Africa, 2021

So that's that then. Again, just to reiterate the obvious, you cannot belittle Pakistan's achievement here. It's not their fault that the IPL took precedence and that they've beaten a side that had half their first XI missing. It's a big deal winning in South Africa. Period. Anyway, let's leave the rant for some other day. So this is me, Vineet Anantharaman, signing off on behalf of Rishi Roy, Kumar Abhisekh Das and our scorer, Harish. Until the T20s, and the lesser important T20Is come along, ta ta!!

Babar Azam | Winning captain | MoM: It was fun today with the way the openers started and I just looked to carry that momentum. When we lost back to back wickets, I told all the new batsmen coming in that we needed a partnership. But I would like to give Hasan Ali credit, he used those two overs well at the end. When we saw the wicket yesterday, I felt spin could play a part here. So it's not that we weren't prepared for spin. Today they bowled well and I would give credit to the players. Quite an important series for us, it gives our team and our players a lot of confidence. Hopefully we'll carry it to the T20s as well and try and win that.

Fakhar Zaman | MoS: My plan was very simple. I was looking to survive the first 8-10 overs and play normally. To be honest on these grounds, it isn't easy to bat with two new balls in the morning. So we were only looking to survive the first ten overs. It means a lot to score runs here. For the last two years I wasn't scoring much, so it was necessary for me and my team. Thanks to my skipper for giving me these opportunities. I'm happier at having won the series.

Mark Boucher | Losing coach [Standing in for Bavuma]: Never like to lose a series at home, but well played to Pakistan. They were the better team. We gave ourselves a chance with the ball towards the end, but losing early wickets put us back. We tried to set ourselves small targets and there are short boundaries. Spin seemed to be the best option, and maybe we bowled one too many at the end, but well done to them to exploit that. We played in pockets. When we were bad we were really bad and that's where Pakistan have capitalized. After the first game, there were some average dismissals which we put right in the second game. There were a couple of guys who came in, Malan, Kyle and Phehlukwayo put in good performances, but still, disappointed at the moment. [On missing five players] There are no excuses there, we knew some time ago what the situation was, so no excuses whatsoever. We are all working really hard in the nets and are having chats. Hopefully we can win and learn. We just need one or two individual performances from the guys to get us over the T20s. Winning is a habit and we need to start winning games. Temba doesn't look good I'm afraid. But he was struggling while batting as well. I don't think the near future is good for him or for us.

18:12 Local Time, 16:12 GMT, 21:42 IST: It's not everyday that teams just show up in South Africa and beat them. They may've been massively short on starpower tonight (blame the IPL), but Pakistan can still be mighty proud of what they've achieved. It's been a fitting end to what was a closely fought series: with the Proteas refusing to throw in the towel despite the 13 runs | 3 wickets middle-order collapse. Verreynne and Phehlukwayo kept fighting, kept the asking rate in check, but as Sarfaraz had been saying all along, ek wicket was all that Pakistan needed. And when Haris Rauf got them that ek wicket, and Afridi kept peppering them from the other end, it was indeed over. But it's the spinners who deserve a chunk of the credit here, with Nawaz in particular looking nearly unplayable in the middle overs, picking up three crucial wickets, along with Usman Qadir, who nobody could've guessed was on debut. Okay, stick around, the presentations are here ..

Shaheen Afridi to Dupavillon, out Bowled!! There's Pakistan's 2-1. This is why you needed the new LED bail -- to light up the sky and mark what is a pretty historic win. Afridi finally gets bored with his bouncers, nails his yorker, and Dupavillon continues doing the same: crouching, swinging, missing. Dupavillon b Shaheen Afridi 17(10) [4s-2 6s-1]

Shaheen Afridi to Dupavillon, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Shaheen Afridi to Dupavillon, no run, another bouncer. Afridi knows just one way here. Dupavillon knows just one way too, crouching, swinging, missing

With five balls to go, the umpires have spotted something wrong with the bail. Let me bore you with the equation until they sort that out: 29 runs | 5 balls

Shaheen Afridi to Sipamla, 1 run, bumper. Hurried pull. Gloved. Behind square

Hasan Ali to Dupavillon, FOUR, another slower variation, and another one dispatched. Hasan's doing his best to undo his batting here .. with a high loopy full toss, that Dupavillon heaves at, and gets one-bounced into the square leg boundary

Hasan Ali to Dupavillon, 2 runs, yorker, on off, Dupavillon connects with his hoick here, down the ground, and Sipamla's dive gets him back in for the second in time

Hasan Ali to Dupavillon, no run, slower one, outside off. Dupavillon knows just one way -- crouch, swing big across the line. And yea, miss

Hasan Ali to Sipamla, 1 run, bouncer, pulled, top-edged, over the keeper

Hasan Ali to Dupavillon, 1 run, firmly bottom-handed down the pitch, and it's flush into Sipamla in the way

Hasan Ali to Sipamla, leg byes, 1 run, sliding into the legs, past the heave to roll off the thighs to fine leg

Shaheen Afridi to Dupavillon, no run, sharp bouncer, and Dupavillon for some reason was trying to sweep this. Hah. #JustNumber11Things

Shaheen Afridi to Dupavillon, no run, yorker, finally! Just outside off, pacy, and there's nothing Dupavillon can do. Nothing ..

Shaheen Afridi to Dupavillon, SIX, and better. Dupavillon crouches, clears his front leg, gets under the length and heaves it over long-on

Shaheen Afridi to Dupavillon, FOUR, well, well. Not bad. It's full and sraight, and Dupavillon shoves this straight down the ground