In a short career, 19-year-old Umar Akmal has already been called upon to save Pakistan on plenty of occasions, including on tough away tours of New Zealand and Australia. The alarm bells were ringing again when he walked out with Pakistan at 18 for 3, in what was the worst performance by any team in the Powerplay.
He set about repairing the damage with a quick partnership with elder brother Kamran. The hitting started in Roelof van der Merwe's over with a bunch of slog-sweeps, and in his next over, slammed him over the long-off boundary.
After Kamran's dismissal, Umar had support from captain Afridi. Umar wowed the crowd with a paddle-scoop over short fine off the pacy Kallis, and Afridi muscled boundaries over cover and midwicket. The horrors at the start were completely forgotten by the sprinkling of Pakistan fans in the ground after Umar scuttled across the stumps to swing Albie over deep backward square leg and Afridi absolutely hammered a flat six over long-on to take Pakistan to 102 for 4 after 14, with the finisher Abdul Razzaq still to come.
Three fours were taken off a Dale Steyn over and Umar was flamboyantly celebrating his half-century after blasting Langeveldt for a straight six on the first delivery of the 17th. His exit soon after took the steam out of Pakistan's batting, but the total they put up proved enough to give the defending champions their first win in the Super Eights.