Pakistan v South Africa: Cricket World Cup 2023 – live

19th over: Pakistan 97-3 (Babar Azam 34, Iftikhar 3) Babar eyes up Maharaj and sizzles his first through midwicket for four. A handful of singles in the sun.

18th over: Pakistan 90-3 (Babar Azam 28, Iftikhar 2) Coetzee, headband, baby ponytail, low-kneed approach, in the build of Klusener. Pakistan can only manage two.

“I am actually at the M.A Chidambaram stadium watching the match,” writes Arunachalam Vaidyanathan, “and have to say am pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere. The crowd (obviously) is rooting for South Africa but Pakistan have a fair but of support too especially for Babar. Just hope for a close game.”

That’s good to hear.

17th over: Pakistan 88-3 (Babar Azam 27, Iftikhar 1) Just two from it.

16th over: Pakistan 86-3 (Babar Azam 26, Iftikhar 0) A huge blow for Pakistan, Rizwan was in the mood for irritating kingdom building. Iftikhar walks out, shovelled up the order with instructions, presumably, to get hitting. The ball before Rizwan was done by a heavy bouncer, Babar nearly went too, pulling blind, eyes down, bat skywards, for a lucky single.

The big one! Rizwan flies at a bouncer but can only top edge the short ball behind. Coetzee roars.

15th over: Pakistan 84-2 (Babar Azam 25, Rizwan 30) Rizwan pushes the door ajar, plants his front leg, lowers his head, and sweeps Maharaj against the spin for six. Glorious.

14th over: Pakistan 77-2 (Babar Azam 25, Rizwan 23) Markram trots in. Pakistan need to milk him. A delicate late-lunch cut drags the fielder all the way to the rope and brings Rizwan three. Ah, the reason Rabada is not playing because he has a lower-back spasm.

13th over: Pakistan 71-2 (Babar Azam 23, Rizwan 19) Maharaj keeps it tight – just one from it.

12th over: Pakistan 70-2 (Babar Azam 22, Rizwan 19) Spin from both ends. Babar sweeps at a wide one from Markram and gets a kiss of a touch for four. On commentary, Waqar Younis says how bad Babar generally is at sweeping “likes the feel of the full face of the bat.”

11th over: Pakistan 63-2 (Babar Azam 16, Rizwan 18) Maharaj replaces Jansen: Babar taps a single, Rizwan doesn’t wait to get his eye in, immediately sweeps him for four.

10th over: Pakistan 58-2 (Babar Azam 15, Rizwan 14) I take it back about the compress, Rizwan does one of those cross legged dance swipes, designed for maximum irritation, and fires Markram over cover for four.

9th over: Pakistan 53-2 (Babar Azam 14, Rizwan 10) Babar and Rizwan start the rebuild, and it looks as if Babar has, temporarily at least, managed to apply .a cold compress to Rizwan. A sloppy old misfield by Bavuma in the covers, turns a single into three, and then Rizwan drives Jansen gorgeously for four. Time for a bowling change?

8th over: Pakistan 44-2 (Babar Azam 11, Rizwan 5) Jansen calms things down with a calm over containing just two singles.

7th over: Pakistan 42-2 (Babar Azam 10, Rizwan 4) Rizwan, with immaculate suncream lipstick, is dropped first ball -if it can be called that- as he pushes forward and the leaping Jansen can’t hold on with outstretched hand in his follow through. Rizwan throws the kitchen sink at the next, an outrageous hoik that is aimed towards long on but instead flies over the keeper for four. All sorts of posturing follows between Rizwan and Jansen, and Rizwan scatters more tinder by signalling that Jansen’s final ball should have been a wide.

Done by the slower ball! Furious with himself, flies for the drive but can only edge to deep slip. And Jansen has both openers in his pocket.

6th over: Pakistan 38-1 (Babar Azam 10, Imam ul Haq 12) South Africa handing out a few sweeties here: Ngidi throws in a wide, then a another juicy one on the legside tucked into by Imam, ferociously cut to the rope. An overthrow brings one, then Babar rises onto his toes to cut four more.

5th over: Pakistan 28-1 (Babar Azam 6, Imam ul Haq 7) Enter Babar, who is kindly greeted by two no balls and two free hits from Jansen. One is clattered through midwicket for four, the other shovelled through extra cover for a couple.

Shaffique eyes up and takes on the short ball, but hasn’t got enough behind it and Ngidi gracefully takes the catch on the rope in the shade of the stands..

4th over: Pakistan 20-0 (Abdullah Shaffique 9, Imam ul Haq 7) A fierce cut by Shaffique off Ngidi’s first ball brings a boundary. Three more off the boots, then an almost dangerously sharp single. The over concludes with a nasty bouncer, but nine from it.

A gorgeous looking stadium – two of the stands at least are multi-storied, topped by white roofs – like something a child might make out of playmobil to raise their spirits on a dreary morning.

3rd over: Pakistan 11-0 (Abdullah Shaffique 1, Imam ul Haq 6) A bouncer from Jansen flies over the top of Shafique, and de Kock’s outstretched glove, to the rope. Byes given not wides. Shaffique belatedly off the mark with a single.

2nd over: Pakistan 6-0 (Abdullah Shaffique 0, Imam ul Haq 6) The stockier Ngidi, black headband sitting around his head like a belt, charges in. Pakistan’s innings gets going with a cut for two by Imam, followed by four whipped off his heels from the last ball,

1st over: Pakistan 0-0 (Abdullah Shaffique 0, Imam ul Haq 0 ) Marco Jansen stretches to his full six foot eight, a dancer’s approach and a delicate delivery. Lovely length straight away, and a maiden to start.

Anthems over, here come the players!

We get an overhead glimpse of the stadium, which is gloriously only a puma’s leap from the beach, looking out over the Bay of Bengal. Here comes Shaun Pollock with the trophy, as the teams mill about before the anthems.

An early email. “Good morning Tanya.” Hello Krishnamoorthy v!

“Could you tell me if you are serious about the shoulder pads? (I am not seeing any live coverage, trusting the ever reliable OBO)

“A XXL tee would have been cheaper if the purpose was to hide that paunch.”

I only had a five second glimpse but he had suspiciously square and large shoulders to go alongside the XXL-size personality.

It looks hot out there, the crowd fanning themselves with their six signs. Bavuma said that he too would have batted first on a tasty-looking pitch.

Two changes for Pakistan: Hasan Ali is ill and is replaced by ,Mohammad Wasim; Mohammad Nawaz replaces Usama Mir.

Pakistan XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf.

Three changes for South Africa: Bavuma returns, alongside Shamsi and Ngidi – Hendricks, Coetzee and, to some surprise, Rabada sit in the dugout.

South Africa XI: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Gerald Coetzee, Lungi Ngidi

Ravi Shastri in shades and shoulder pads introduces the captains. Babar calls correctly and choses to bat first in a sultry Chennai, and says he is is feeling comfortable about his batting and looking forward to being out there.

Good morning! Now that England have toppled their crown into India’s equivalent of the Wash, time to turn to one of the strong pretenders: South Africa. The men in green and sand have lost just one of their games – an embarrassment by the Netherlands – and are purring sweetly toward the semi-finals.

All the cogs are freshly oiled, all the springs tightly sprung, with captain Temba Bavuma returning after his replacement Reeza Hendricks did just dandy against England: the runs, they just keep on flowing.

They play the other men in green, Pakistan, languishing in sixth and with three defeats in their recent out box. Pakistan have also been hit by an ominous vote of confidence by the board – who urged fans to continue supporting them on the one hand, while with the other putting the boot into captain Babar Azam and coach Inzamam ul Haq. Pakistan need Babar to suddenly fire, alongside the strangely subdued seam attack – another loss and they would be relying on a succession of banana skins hitting all the teams above them. A team that historically thrives on unlikely comebacks, Pakistan’s campaign proper must start now.

Play starts at 9.30am BST, the forecast in Chennai is for sun and cloud – 31 degrees and with high humidity.