When Mahmudullah said that Mustafizur was resting in the game, it would have sent a shock wave to the fans. When you have lost three out of three matches, and there is a slim mathematical chance for you to qualify, your best bowler should be in the playing XI if he is fit to play. Probably this could have been a sign of Bangladesh giving up even before the match and wanting to give their other players some exposure in the tournament. South Africa had a comfortable victory against Bangladesh and chasing the target in less than 14 overs gave a good boost to their net run rate.
Bangladesh fails to handle pace from South Africa
Kagiso Rabada picked up three wickets in five balls as Bangladesh went from 22/0 to 24/3. Bangladesh had a bad powerplay, but things got worse after that. In the next six overs, they could only manage 18 runs and lost three more wickets in that phase.
The batting team did not find any breathing space as Tabraiz Shamsi and Dwaine Pretorius controlled the middle overs, as they have done throughout the tournament. Any hopes of some mighty blows at the end were ended by Anrich Nortje, who also picked up three wickets. Rabada and Nortje combined to bowl 29 dot balls out of 44 balls. 28/6 in 7.2 overs was the score for Bangladesh in front of these two pacers. Both of them managed to register their career-best figures.
Nortje has managed to pick up at least one wicket in his last nine T20Is, and his most expensive figures were 1/32 in 4 overs. He has been exceptional for South Africa in 2021. Some teams may target Rabada and try to play out Nortje in the coming matches. With 14 wickets in the last nine matches, the bowler on average gives you three wickets every two games and is hard to score against.
Bangladesh’s batting failure
When the number of extras is more than the number of boundaries scored in an innings, you can have a fair idea about how bad or how difficult the batting was for the team. Bangladesh could only manage five boundaries in 110 balls, whereas South Africa managed 11 in 81 balls.
Mahedi Hassan was the only Bangladeshi batter to have a strike rate of more than 100. Four batters were dismissed for a duck of which, three had golden ducks to their names. Such stats are to be seen when the batting teams get all out for less than 100 runs. The pitch was difficult to bat, but the Bangladesh fans would have hoped for a better fight.
South Africa’s chase
The Powerplay overs were no different in the second innings. South Africa, too, lost three wickets and were 33/3 at the end of six overs. But the batters knew what they were chasing, so they kept rotating the strike, picking up regular boundaries. Temba Bavuma played another sensible knock after his 46 balls 46 against Sri Lanka. In such conditions, you need a batter who can keep the scoreboard ticking and the South African skipper plays that role to perfection. Bangladesh did manage to pick up four wickets, but defending 85 was almost an impossible task even if they had their best bowler Mustafizur in the playing XI.
Conclusion
South Africa reaching six points meant Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are out of the World Cup. South Africa’s net run rate won’t be an issue for them, but they play England in their last group encounter, which can turn out to be a tricky game. Australia, on the other hand, has West Indies and Bangladesh as their opposition, and they look strong on paper and current form to win both those games. South Africa would not want to rely on other results and beat England to almost guarantee a spot in the semi-finals. Bangladesh can turn party spoilers against Australia, and that would be some game to watch given their last T20I series.