SA vs Pak – Pakistan and South Africa begin their important all-format tour with low-context T20Is

Few experiences are as universal as the meaningless introduction you have to sit through before the actual event begins. It is unmistakable in the opening ceremony before the start of a T20 league, a mix of uncontested pop music and the splendor of a firework display that, while promising to be different, looks like almost every firework display that has ever existed. Maybe it’s a family member determined to bring you up to speed on the finer details of an increasingly boring event while you curse yourself for asking a question that isn’t answered with a simple yes or no could. Maybe it’s even this article, which you’ve probably scrolled down a few times to find out what it’s about.

The struggle for relevance of the bilateral white-ball game can also be illustrated by the fact that South Africa has had a terrible T20I year, based on such fixtures. They haven’t won a single bilateral series in the format, were whitewashed twice by the West Indies, were held to a 1-1 draw by Ireland and were soundly beaten at home by a second-rate Indian team while their top-class players were in Australia for Tests . But all of this feels so irrelevant that it’s not worth mentioning. Not only were they unable to field full-strength teams in most of these encounters, but when they did, they were within Suryakumar Yadav’s shoe size of winning the T20 World Cup, and there is no bilateral argument about that Series change something.

Bilateral results better reflect Pakistan’s standing in this format, especially as the T20 World Cup also reflected this. They have won two T20I series, but against Ireland and Zimbabwe – and Pakistan lost a game each. They started the year with a 4-1 defeat against New Zealand in what turned out to be the only series in which Afridi was captain, before a 2-2 draw at home to the same opponents as New Zealand’s best players at the Playing the IPL In May, England were beaten 0-2 and last month they were beaten 0-3 by Australia. The whole thing was topped off by an ignominious exit from the World Cup at the first hurdle, where they lost to India and, famously, the USA.

But if one of the biggest problems with bilateral series is the lack of context, there are some from not too long ago. It feels surreal when you think about it now, but in the late 2010s, when there was half a decade between two T20 World Cups, Pakistan were the best team in the world and they weren’t very close. This could be determined almost exclusively through bilateral series, and Pakistan won eleven of them outright; They are still the only team to have achieved that.

And if they can look at this series as the point at which they reversed that unfortunate slide, then this is an introduction that may have been worth it after all.