Younis’s sedate 73 built Pakistan’s run-chase but they owed it to their tail-enders Haider (19 not out) and Riaz (18) as they put on 28 runs for the ninth wicket to help their team chase down a challenging 275-run target.
Fit-again Graeme Smith played a captain’s knock of 92 to steer South Africa to a challenging 274-6 but once again his team choked in the final moments despite having grabbed all top wickets.
Pakistan still needed 31 when they lost Abdul Razzaq (33) — whose robust 72-ball 109 not out which shocked South Africa by one wicket in the second match in Abu Dhabi — but Haider and Riaz held their nerves.
Even when Riaz was run out with three needed off as many deliveries, Haider kept his cool, scoring two off paceman Wayne Parnell and then pulled the penultimate delivery for a single, much to the delight of a 25,000 capacity crowd.
The win helped Pakistan level the series at 2-2 and set up an intriguing fifth and final match here on Monday.
It was Younis whose 115-ball half-cenury with only one boundary that put Pakistan on course for a tight run-chase, adding 58 for the second wicket with Mohammad Hafeez (42) and 56 with Asad Shafiq (36).
So cautious was Younis that his first boundary came in the 37th over, but he kept Pakistan on course with another 49 for the sixth wicket with Razzaq before paceman Morne Morkel dismissed both to finish with 3-48.
Captain Shahid Afridi also bolstered the run-chase with a swift 25-ball 29 studded with four boundaries.
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis praised his team’s fighting ability.
“One should praise the game, it was a hell of a match and all praise to the boys who showed great fighting ability, especially Younis who batted well and the tail-enders who kept us in the hunt,” said Waqar.
Earlier Smith missed his ninth one-day century by just eight runs on his return after injuring his hand during South Africa’s eight wicket win in the first match in Abu Dhabi.
South Africa took a 2-1 lead with a narrow two-run win in the third match here on Tuesday.
Smith put on a 94-run stand with AB de Villiers (49) to put South African on course for a big total before he was trapped leg-before by off-spinner Hafeez in the 31st over.
De Villiers then took charge alongwith Jean-Paul Duminy (36) as South African added 84 in the last ten overs. De Villiers’s 70-ball knock was without a boundary but he batted sensibly after Smith’s departure.
Smith said his team put up a good total but didn’t bowl well.
“A total of 274 was good,” said Smith. “We needed to bowl decently but we didn’t and gave the momentum to Pakistan and in the end we had a chance to win, but it didn’t come about.”
Paceman Riaz briefly put brakes on the South African innings by dismissing Duminy and David Miller (nought) off successive delveries but Colin Ingram (27 not out) and Johan Botha (28 not out) lifted the total in the last five overs.
The two added an invaluable 54 runs in the batting power-play.
It was Smith who gave South African innings the required pace, putting 35 for the first wicket with Hashim Amla (10) before Shoaib Akhtar removed Amla in the seventh over.
Smith paced the innings with three boundaries off Riaz in the 15 over before raising his 42nd half-century off 57 balls.
Pakistan, which lost the opening one-dayer and both Twenty20 matches against South Africa, was staring at another defeat when Razzaq belted 10 sixes and seven boundaries for a 72-ball innings of 109.
Razzaq scored 63 of the last 65 runs and hit the final boundary as Pakistan overhauled South Africa’s score of 286 with one ball and one wicket to spare.
”This is one of my best innings ever and I am so happy that it came at a time when Pakistan cricket is going through so much troubles,” said Razzaq, who was named Man of the Match. ”I have been under tremendous pressure like many others in the team and I hope those criticizing us will realize that we are all playing for the country.
”I just wanted to stay till the end and I was just hoping that I do not mis-hit during the final overs as I was the only batsman left.”
Skipper Shahid Afridi, who had had a poor run in the three matches of the tour so far, finally found some form. Coming in at 70-4, Afridi started off on an aggressive note but after hitting three fours and two huge sixes, he got out to a rash stroke for 49.
After Afridi left, Fawad Alam was joined by Razzaq, the latter in pursuit of his first ODI half century in four years. Together they put 81 runs in just 75 balls to keep the Pakistan supporters interested before Alam scooped a catch to Albie Morkel to give Charl Langeveldt his 100th ODI wicket.
After that, Razzaq took over and not only reached his half century, the first since 2006, but went on to convert it into a match-winning century.
Earlier in the match, South Africa put up a healthy score of 286-8 after winning the toss and electing to bat. A superb century by Colin Ingram and half centuries by Hashim Amla and J.P Duminy steered them to that challenging total.
Ingram scored exactly 100, his second century in five ODIs since making his debut in the recent home series against Zimbabwe, while Amla and Duminy scored 65 and 54 respectively.
Ingram’s 100 came off 119 balls as the left-hander was at ease against both spin and pace. He scored 10 boundaries and one six and starred in two useful partnerships, an 84-run stand with Amla for the second wicket and another 86 runs for the third wicket with AB de Villiers.
Amla slammed eight fours in his 65-run knock off 62 balls while towards the end, Duminy’s 54, studded with three fours and a six, piled the misery on the Pakistan bowlers.
For Pakistan, skipper Afridi and Wahab Riaz, the young left arm fast bowler who replaced Umar Gul, took two wickets each.
Graeme Smith, who did not play, said he was disappointed that a great innings from Ingram and the rest of the batting displays went in vain.
”We dominated through the 50 overs of batting and also through the 34 overs of bowling,” Smith said. ”It was only in the last 16 overs that Razzaq took the game away from us. You can’t do anything when someone like Razzaq hits the ball so cleanly and so often.
”There have been a few positives and we will also work out a plan, especially the bowling at the death.”
Smith, who is nursing a finger injury which he suffered when a Shoaib Akhtar ball hit him in Friday’s first ODI, and Jacques Kallis, who is still recovering from a viral infection, both sat out the match. Robin Peterson and Albe Morkel came into the lineuip, with Johan Botha standing in as captain.
The ODI series now moves to Dubai where the remaining three ODIs and the first test will be played. The two teams meet in the third ODI on Tuesday.About Me
