South Africa’s George Linde played a pivotal role in his team’s 11-run victory over Pakistan in the first T20I at Kingsmead, Durban, on Tuesday, December 10. The all-rounder, who missed the team bus and had to rely on a police escort to reach the venue, delivered a match-winning performance with both bat and ball.

Linde’s day started off on a humorous note when he missed the team bus due to his phone being 15 minutes behind schedule. Reflecting on the situation, Linde said, "For some reason, my phone was 15 minutes behind time. I had thought to myself, 'OK, at four o'clock I'm going to walk down and I'm going to get into the bus nice and early,"

"And then as I came out of the team hotel I saw the bus leaving, and that feeling was not great. Luckily there were police escorts and they took me to the bus. Actually no-one realised I wasn't on the bus, which was actually quite cool. It was embarrassing, but I reckon for the next game I might just be late again,"

Despite the mishap, Linde was still selected in the playing XI, a decision that turned out to be game-changing.

In his first international appearance since 2021, Linde reignited South Africa's innings with a quickfire 48 off just 24 balls. His powerful hitting in the final overs helped the Proteas recover and post a competitive total of 183/9 in their 20 overs. Linde’s brilliant knock complemented David Miller’s explosive 82 off 40 balls, which had laid the foundation for the Proteas’ innings.

However, Linde’s contributions didn’t end there. The left-arm spinner delivered a remarkable bowling performance, registering his career-best figures of 4/21 in four overs. In a crucial 18th over, he took three wickets in five deliveries, dismissing Shaheen Shah Afridi, Irfan Khan, and Abbas Afridi. His all-round display earned him the Player of the Match award and helped South Africa take a 1-0 lead in the T20I series.

“When David got out, I was nervous. I asked myself what the team needed from me at that very moment. Luckily, I was nice and calm and relaxed,” Linde said during the post-match press conference.