ICC World Cup 2015: Pakistan vs South Africa - Player vs Player stats

A player vs player comparison of Pakistan and South African players

The Pakistan team face South Africa this Saturday in a crucial Group B encounter match, with Pakistan aiming to win at any cost and South Africa looking to set more records in this World Cup. Led by AB de Villiers, the Proteas have won three out of the four games while the Pakistanis have won only two of their four.

South Africa are riding a wave of confidence at the moment after crushing West Indies by 257 runs, while Pakistan are coming off two victories over minnows (UAE and Zimbabwe).

Here, we statistically compare the expected playing XIs of both sides and attempt to judge which team will start the contest as favourites. The winner between each duo has been judged only by ODI career stats and not talent, form or anything else.

Pakistan	South Africa	Who’s better?
Nasir Jamshed	Hashim Amla	SA
Runs – 1418, Avg – 31.51, SR – 75.38	Runs – 5616, Avg – 56.72, SR – 89.85
Ahmed Shehzad	Quinton de Kock	Tie
Runs – 2126, Avg – 34.85, SR – 71.94	Runs – 1513, Avg – 38.79 , SR – 87.10
Younus Khan	Faf du Plessis	PAK
Runs – 7203, Avg – 31.31, SR – 75.29	Runs – 2213, Avg – 35.69, SR – 84.82
Misbah-ul-Haq	AB de Villiers	SA
Runs – 4993, Avg – 43.41, SR – 73.92	Runs – 7700, Avg – 52.73, SR – 98.38
Haris Sohail	David Miller	SA
Runs – 442, Avg – 34.00, SR – 77.27	Runs – 1539, Avg – 38.47, SR – 101.45
Umar Akmal	Rilee Rossouw	PAK
Runs – 2860, Avg – 34.87, SR – 86.43	Runs – 538, Avg – 35.86, SR – 111.15
Shahid Afridi	JP Duminy	PAK
Runs – 8019, Avg – 23.58, SR – 116.86 Wickets – 395, Avg – 34.26, ECO – 4.62	Runs – 3765, Avg – 40.05, SR – 83.92 Wickets – 48, Avg – 41.68, ECO – 5.07
Yasir Shah	Imran Tahir	SA
Wickets – 2, Avg – 55.50, ECO – 6.16	Wickets – 156, Avg – 25.50, ECO – 4.82
Wahab Riaz	Dale Steyn	SA
Wickets – 69, Avg – 31.49, ECO – 5.62	Wickets – 64, Avg – 20.18, ECO – 4.40
Sohail Khan	Morne Morkel	SA
Wickets – 14, Avg – 30.42, ECO – 5.24	Wickets – 161, Avg – 24.34, ECO – 4.96
Mohammad Irfan	Kyle Abbott	PAK
Wickets – 62, Avg – 29.67, ECO – 4.82	Wickets – 13, Avg – 34.61, ECO – 4.74
Pakistan 4 – South Africa 6

From the table above, it is clear that the South African team have a far more superior batting and bowling order compared to that of Pakistan. But with an unpredictable Shahid Afridi and the ever consistent Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan team will be hoping to find it within themselves to gain a victory and cement their position in the World Cup.