After skipper Johan Botha and Lonwabo Tsotsobe each took three wickets to help dismiss Pakistan for a modest 119, South Africa reached 120-4 with 10 balls to spare — taking a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
JP Duminy hit 41 in 46 balls before he was caught by Akmal off Saeed Ajmal but his fourth-wicket stand of 66 with Colin Ingram had already put victory within reach.
Duminy struck an unbeaten 46 from 38 balls to guide the Proteas to their target, with David Miller on 13 the other unbeaten batsman.
“We did get into a bit of a stutter at the beginning, but full credit to my side for they recovered well,” Botha said.
Pakistan won the toss but was never allowed to build any real partnerships after opting to bat. From 75-3 in the 10th over, it lost four wickets for 16 runs to the disappointment of a partisan crowd of about 10,000.
Tsotsobe removed openers Shahzaib Hasan and Imran Farhat, while Botha had Mohammad Hafeez caught by Ingram caught to leave Pakistan on 46-3 in the early stages.
Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi came in and pulled the first ball he faced for a huge six over long on. In the next over, he smashed two successive sixes as he rushed to 25 off six balls.
However, his attempt for a third successive six ended in Loots Bosman’s hands.
After that it was Misbah-ul-Haq, recalled to the team, who kept the innings ticking over while wickets fell at the other end. Pakistan slumped to 99-9 and only some fine shots from Misbah, who was 27 not out, helped Pakistan reach its total in 19.5 overs.
“I think we were about 30 runs short on this wicket,” Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said.
Shoaib Akhtar then raised the crowds’ hopes with two wickets in his second over, including that of the No.
1-ranked one-day batsman AB de Villiers for a duck.
Former skipper Graeme Smith also fell to make it 46-3 but Duminy and Ingram then took over.
