South Africa batter David Miller missing their fourth ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 match against Pakistan in Sydney is one of the two changes announced by captain Temba Bavuma at the toss. The development has resulted in a middle-order opportunity for batter Heinrich Klaasen.
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It was Pakistan captain Babar Azam who won the toss and chose to bat in a must-win encounter tonight. “We will bat. Put runs on the board and then place them under pressure in the chase. We will try and give our best and then move forward,” Azam told the broadcaster at the toss.
Pakistan have made a lone change to their Playing XI. A last-minute inclusion to their 15-member squad, batter Fakhar Zaman has been ruled out of the tournament for aggravating a knee injury. One of the three Pakistani standbys, batter Mohammad Haris has pinned down the likes of Asif Ali, Haider Ali and Khushdil Shah to replace Zaman in the Playing XI.
Why is David Miller not playing today vs Pakistan?
Much like Azam, Bavuma also wanted to bat first at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday but was contended to try and restrict Pakistan to a “low score”.
“We would have batted first as well. Looks a bit dry but there is some green. Batting first is an advantage but we need to keep them down to a low score and then chase well. We have a great bunch of guys and have derived a lot of support and confidence from them,” Bavuma told the broadcaster at the toss.
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The out-of-form player further revealed that Miller has been left out due to an injury. While Bavuma didn’t reveal the nature of the injury, he did mention that it’s just a precautionary measure. The second change for the Proteas has come in the form of spinner Keshav Maharaj being benched for spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.
In the two innings that Miller played in this World Cup, his 61 runs came at a strike rate of 122 with the help of a half-century. Klaasen, meanwhile, had scored 12 (6) in his lone T20I innings in Australia four years ago. As far as facing Pakistan in the shortest format is concerned, Klaasen has scored 151 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 133.62 against them.
