A clueless batting performance saw Bangladesh concede a six-wicket defeat to South Africa in their fourth game of the Super 12 phase of the Twenty20 World Cup at Sheikh Jayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE today.
In a pitch that carried true bounce and pace, Bangladesh failed to show patience and eventually were shot out for 84 in 18.2 overs. South Africa however recovered from a shaky start to race to the victory with 39 balls to spare, making 86-4.
Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed got the pitch to his likings as he terrorized South African top order with raw pace and bounce, leaving them tottering at 33-3 at the end of the first powerplay.
But unlike the Bangladesh batters, South Africa showed the patience and waited for loose deliveries that paid the rich dividends.
After the bowling heroics of their two fast bowlers, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada, Skipper Temba Bavuma led the way with 28 ball-31 not out, smashing three fours and one six. Rassi van der Dussen was the other notablescorer with 22.
Taskin broke through in the first over, trapping Reeza Hendricks for 4 and then Mahedi Hasan dismissed Quinton de Kock for 16.
Taskin continued his good bowling to cripple South African batters and the pressure resulted in the wicket of Aiden Markram, who forced to edge in the first slip for naught.
But Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen didn’t bog down. With caution and aggression, they brought the side back in contention, denying Bangladesh put further pressure.
Nasum Ahmed removed Dussen for 22 with South Africa five runs away of the victory but Bavuma took the side home and kept the side’s unbeaten record against Bangladesh in T20 format intact. South Africa now won all seven matches they played against Bangladesh in the shortest format of the cricket.
However, Bangladesh’s batting let them down, causing their fourth straight defeat in the Super 12s.
South Africa fast bowlers, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada were the wrecker-in-chief, claiming three wickets apiece with express pace that left Bangladesh in a precarious position from the very beginning.
The 84 was Bangladesh third lowest total in the T20 World Cup. Only three Bangladeshi batters could reach double digit figure, with Mahedi Hasan top-scoring 27. Opener Liton Das made 24 while Shamim Patwari, one of the two changes of Bangladesh from the previous game, made 11.
Kagiso Rabada firstly tormented Bangladesh with raw pace that accounted Naim Sheikh (9) and Soumya Sarkar in consecutive deliveries. He then undid Mushfiqur Rahim with an extra bounce for duck and finished his first spell with 3-14.
Anrich Nortje began from where Rabada ended.
Nortje’s barrage of short balls were too much for Bangladesh. He firstly took the wicket of captain Mahmudullah with a short ball, leaving Bangladesh 34-4. When it needed to show some patience, Afif Hossain played a wretched
shot in the first delivery he faced against Dwayne Petorious and saw his stump rattled.
Liton however showed the patience but was beaten off the air by left-arm wrist spinner Tabriz Shamsi for 24.
Shamim and Mahedi fought it hard but South African pacers were tough to deal with. They are however the reason that Bangladesh avoided being dismissed by their lowest World Cup total which was 70 against New Zealand in Kolklata in 2016 T20 World Cup.
Nortje however cleaned up the tail, taking out Mahedi and Nasum Ahmed in consecutive deliveries in their penultimate over. Nortje eventually had figures of 3.2-0-8-3 while Rabada returned form with 3-20 in four overs.
