Pakistan beat South Africa by 33 runs in the D/L method in a rain-interrupted match to keep their semifinal hopes alive in the T20 World Cup in Sydney Thursday.

Group 2 has resumed after an interruption by rain, with the revised target of 142 runs.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first and posted 185 runs on the board.

Chasing a target of 186, South Africa's score read at 101/7 after 13.0 overs.

Pakistan’s Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed slammed the fifties as Pakistan recovered from a top-order collapse to post a total of 185/9 against South Africa.

Pakistan were reeling at 43/4 at one stage before Iftikhar and Mohammad Nawaz added 52 runs for the fifth wicket. Nawaz played a handy cameo of 28 (22) before losing his wicket.

However, Iftikhar (51) continued his onslaught, and Shadab (52) also joined him in the middle. The pair added 82 runs in 35 balls to take Pakistan to a strong total.

Pakistan will take on Bangladesh in their last match on Sunday next.

Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul