Pakistan dug deep into their reserves to fetch a much-needed win in the T20 World Cup on Thursday. The 33-run victory over South Africa in a rain-curtailed match kept alive Pakistan’s semi-final hopes — though a bit complicated — alive. The Proteas were the only unbeaten side in the tournament going into the game.

On the ropes at 43/4 early in their innings, Pakistan rallied behind defiant half-centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan to post 185/9 and delight the lively crowd of 30,000 roaring them on at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

South Africa would still have fancied their chances but Shaheen Afridi (3/14) claimed two early wickets and Shadab removed Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram, who had built a promising third-wicket partnership of 49, in quick order.

The skies opened up soon afterwards with South Africa on 69/4 after nine overs. An hour later, they resumed with a revised target of 142 from 14 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, only to fall well short at 108/9.

“Our first two matches were close losses, but we’ve given 100 per cent in our last two matches,” said Pakistan skipper Babar Azam.

“Cricket is a funny game, you never know, so we’ll hope for the best.”

Pakistan must beat Bangladesh on Sunday at the Adelaide Oval and hope other results go their way in order to make the semis.

Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the last four were already hanging by a thread coming into the match and they looked over when top-order batsmen Mohammad Rizwan, Azam and Shan Masood all departed cheaply.

Mohammad Haris, thrown straight into the ring after coming into the squad as an injury replacement for Fakhar Zaman, however, showed his teammates the way with a blistering 28 off 11 balls that started with two sixes and a four.

Iftikhar, who hit 51, and Shadab, who clubbed 52 off 22 balls, followed his lead with a partnership of 82 for the sixth wicket to transform the innings, which ended with a rain shower, a few boundaries and a flurry of wickets.

While Azam’s miserable tournament continued with 6 runs that left his tally at 14 from four innings, his South African counterpart

Bavuma shrugged off the early loss of opening partner Quinton de Kock for a duck. Bavuma, whose previous three innings at the tournament had earned him 14 runs, hit a dogged 36 before being caught behind off Shadab’s first delivery.

Markram was bowled for 20 two balls later and after the rain break seamers Afridi, Mohammad Wasim and Naseem Shah successfully shackled the South Africans while chipping away with regular wickets.