All three of Pakistan's wins during South Africa's men's tour were earned in Lahore. Both of the visitors' victories were achieved in Rawalpindi. So the move to Faisalabad for the last leg - three ODIs - might promise a twist in the tale. Unless, perhaps, if a constant continues: the home side have won all five tosses.

Saturday's third T20I at the Gaddafi followed a similar script to the second at the same venue on Friday. South Africa were restricted to 139/9 - they were dismissed for 110 a day earlier - and Pakistan won by four wickets with an over remaining. The Pakistanis lost just one wicket before clinching victory with 41 balls to spare on Friday.

"We were better tonight than last night, and not only because we got 139 as opposed to 110," Shukri Conrad told a press conference. "There was an improvement in the way in which we started to try to construct an innings. There were some really good signs for us."

Reeza Hendricks, the oldest player in the squad at 36, faced exactly that number of balls for his 34. He scored 60 in Pindi on Thursday.

Dewald Brevis followed his 25 on Friday with 21. Donovan Ferreira's 29 was four runs more than what he made in his first two innings. Corbin Bosch's seven strikes made him the leading wicket-taker in both teams, and only Salman Mirza's economy rate of 3.75 was better than Bosch's 5.50. Bosch scored an unbeaten 30 on Saturday.

There were bits and bobs of brightness. But they didn't add up to something big enough to move the needle in the South Africans' favour.

"Donovan played really nicely tonight, and Corbin Bosch has been a revelation on this tour," Conrad said. "Dewald Brevis remains a bit of an enigma. He's going to break your heart at times, but he's also going to win you the hard game. But our inexperience told and their experienced players stood up when it mattered."

The seven frontline batters in South Africa's squad hold 237 T20I caps. Pakistan's six batters have played 264 T20Is. That doesn't sound like a significant experience imbalance, but it is because 183 of those South Africa caps belong to Hendricks and Quinton de Kock.

That's 77.22% of their batting experience held by 28.57% of their batters. Hendricks, who was bowled for a second-ball duck by Mirza on Friday, had an OK series. But De Kock is clearly still rusty after spending 468 days in what has turned out to be temporary retirement from the international arena: he scored 30 runs in the series, 23 of them in Pindi.

Contrast that with Babar Azam, who played in his first T20I series in more than 10 months. He made nought and 11 not out in the first two games, and came up with an important 68 off 47 on Saturday. Babar's 131 caps amount to 49.62% of Pakistan's batting experience. And he made it count in the deciding game.

South Africa came back from losing the first Test by 93 runs to win the second by eight wickets, a rousing recovery. When they became the only team to win a T20I in Pindi batting second, it seemed another corner had been turned. Thing is, it led them back to Lahore.

"We got better as the Test series went on," Conrad said. "In the T20 series it looks like we regressed."

Onto Faisalabad, where Pakistan have won nine of their 12 ODIs. South Africa haven't played a game in the format there since October 2007, but they have at least beaten the home side there once in three attempts. That's more than what they did in Lahore on this tour.