Media365
An under-strength South African side, missing captain Temba Bavuma and seven of their key white-ball players, handed ODI debuts to batters Sinethemba Qeshile and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, along with allrounder Donovan Ferreira.
The visitors, however, were boosted by the return of opener Quinton de Kock, who recently came out of ODI retirement.
For Pakistan, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan returned to the lineup after being removed from the ODI captaincy last month. Fakhar Zaman also made his comeback after missing the preceding T20I series against South Africa, which Pakistan won 2-1.
Pakistan opted for a spin-heavy attack featuring Mohammad Nawaz and Abrar Ahmed, with Salman Ali Agha providing an additional spin option.
Faisalabad is hosting international cricket for the first time in 17 years and will also stage the remaining two ODIs on Thursday and Saturday.
Playing XIs:
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (w), Salman Agha, Hussain Talat, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi (c), Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (w), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Tony de Zorzi, Matthew Breetzke (c), Sinethemba Qeshile, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Bjorn Fortuin, Lungi Ngidi, Lizaad Williams
