Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the semi-final diminished after South Africa defeated them in their match of the World Cup on Friday.

Protease won the game by chasing the 271-run target with one wicket and 16 balls remaining.

This is Pakistan’s fourth consecutive loss in the World Cup after winning its first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.

Batting first, Pakistan were all out on 270 in the 47 over in their match against South Africa at the World Cup.

Saud Shakeel remained the top scorer for the Green Shirts, as he added 52 runs taking as many balls.

Skipper Babar Azam, after hitting 50 of 64 balls, was caught behind on the very next delivery bowled by Tabraiz Shamsi. Pakistan were 141 in the 28th over over the loss of five wickets.

Vice-captain Shadab Khan and Saud Shakeel built a solid partnership to uplift Pakistan’s innings.

The two batters made a partnership of 84 runs off 71 balls.

Pakistan lost both openers inside the powerplay after the Green Shirts won the toss and chose to bat. Abdullah Shafique departed for 9 of 17 and Imam ul Haq was removed for 12 of 18 balls. Both wickets were taken by Marco Jensen.

• Hassan Ali out with fever, Nawaz replaces Usama
• Chennai matches have shown low totals
• Pakistan coming off three straight losses

Pakistan are coming off three straight losses, including an upset by Afghanistan. Winning on Friday will be crucial if the team is hopes to compete for a chance at the semi finals.

Hassan Ali has been ruled out with a fever and will be replaced by Muhammad Wasim. Muhammad Nawaz will take the place of Usama Mir.

On the other hand, South Africa are second in the points table with four wins in five matches, the only loss coming against Netherlands.

Although Chennai pitches have favoured spinners and led to low totals, the pitch in use for Friday’s match will have more bounce than usual. ESPNcricinfo reported that the same pitch was used in New Zealand’s match against Bangladesh, which the kiwis won by scoring 248/2 in 42.5 overs.

Probable squads

Pakistan

1 Abdullah Shafique, 2 Imam-ul-Haq/Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Usama Mir, 9 Mohammad Wasim Jnr, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 11 Haris Rauf

South Africa

1 Temba Bavuma (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Tabraiz Shamsi, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Lungi Ngidi/Lizaad Williams