ICC T20: Rampant South Africa hammer Bangladesh

South Africa have hammered Bangladesh by six wickets at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed International Stadium in Group 1 fixture of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Proteas bowled out Bangladesh for 84 after skipper Temba Bavuma opted to field first.

Bangladesh tried to put a fight but South Africa chased down the total in the 14th over. 

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are knocked out from Group 1 while South Africa increased their chances by improving run-rate after today’s win.

South Africa will now face England in their last group match on November 6 in Sharjah.

Rabada, Nortje rattle Bangladesh’s batting

Pacers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje took full advantage of the pitch which supported fast bowlers.

Rabada removed Bangladesh’s top-order inside powerplay while Nortje owned the middle-overs.

Rabada bagged wickets of Mohammad Naim (9) and Soumya Sarkar (0) on two consecutive balls while Mushfiqur Rahim (0) departed in the sixth over.

He finished with figures of 3/20 and also bagged Player of the Match award.

“That wicket favoured the seamers and I’m just glad that today was my day. Every time we have the opportunity to practice, we try and implement what could possibly work for us,” said Rabada after the match.

Meanwhile, Nortje was highly impressive with his pace and bagged figures of 3/8 in 3.2 overs.

He took wickets of Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah (3), Mahedi Hasan (27) and Nasum Ahmed (0).

“Anrich has been on form for a long time now and I’m so happy for him. He works extremely hard and it’s paying off. So it’s great to be bowling with him,” Rabada highly praised his partner.

Bangladesh’s Hasan, Taskin show fight

All-rounder Mahedi Hasan and pacer Taskin Ahmed were the only two players, who showed some resilience for Bangladesh.

Mahedi Hasan hit 27 off 25 balls when other batters were failing around him.

He also bagged a wicket of Quinton de Kock later.

Meanwhile, Taskin Ahmed was effective for Bangladesh with the ball in hand.

He looked to get wickets early and managed to pick two.

He removed Reza Hendricks (4) in the first over as he trapped him in front.

He returned to bowl his third over and dismissed Aiden Markram (0) with a pacy delivery. He finished with figures 2/18.

Mahmudullah unhappy with poor batting display

Bangaldesh skipper seemed visibly angry with how his batters turned up on the wicket.

“I think the wicket was pretty good to bowl on in the first half. We weren’t good enough in the middle.”

“That was a poor batting display, but having said that there was enough assistance in the pitch,” the skipper said after the match.

He hoped Bangladesh could have won previous games to stay in contention for the semi-finals.

He also hailed Taskin for his bowling.

“Taskin has been bowling well in this tournament. We had the choice between Taskin and Fizzy (Mustafizur Rahman), but we went with Taskin because he has been bowling well.”

“It’s frustrating, but we could have won two games. If we had won those games, it would have been a different story,” he added.

Bavuma hails SA quicks

SA captain was glad to see his pace cartel picking from where they left off in the last World Cup clash.

“t was a good day for us. Quite a lot in the wicket early on, and KG (Rabada) and Nortje were able to exploit it. It excites us.”

“The conditions reminded us of playing at home. It’s never easy when you have one guy bowling 150 and another guy in KG who’s got all the skill in the world,” Bavuma said after the match.

South Africa 86 for 4 (Bavuma 31*, Taskin 2-18) beat Bangladesh 84 (Mahedi 27, Nortje 3-8, Rabada 3-20) by six wickets.