The first ODI began two hours and forty minutes after the scheduled time due to heavy rain but when it began, South Africa's debutant paceman Kagiso Rabada tore the Bangladesh batting line-up apart in the rain-curtailed 40-over match to set up a comfortable eight-wicket victory at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

The batting demons returned to haunt the Tigers once again as Rabada, the 20-year old pacer from Johannesburg, finished with 6 for 16 -- the best ever figures in ODIs by a South African and the best ever by a debutant -- to set a 161-run target for his batsmen, which they overtook easily, with 9.5 overs to spare, thanks to an unbeaten 99-run third wicket partnership between Faf du Plessis (63) and Rilee Rossouw (45). The pitch was slow but du Plessis continued his good form after his match-winning knock in the first T20I.

After a poor showing in the two-match T20I series, everybody was anticipating a better performance from the Tigers in their favoured format, but the Tigers looked like a shadow of the side that clinch series victories over Pakistan and India earlier in the year. Their poor batting on a good batting track was the main reason they could not even put up a fight in the first game of the three-match series.

With his pace and accuracy, young Rabada also became only the second bowler to claim a hattrick on debut, after Bangladeshi left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.

The heavy downpour started from the morning and continued till the afternoon, but fans still braved the inclement weather and flocked to the venue with hopes of watching the Tigers' first ODI against South Africa. They cheered with joy when it was announced that a reduced 40-over-a-side clash was going to begin from 5.40pm.

The fans were hoping against hope as the incessant rain threatened to spoil the match, but the fantastic Mirpur venue with its incredible drainage system took little time to get prepared once rain finally stopped.

Thus the smile returned on the faces of the fans. But alas, their joy was short-lived as Bangladesh lost wickets at regular intervals after captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza decided to put runs on the board first. Ultimately, the home team were dismissed for just 160 runs with 21 balls to spare.

Rabada showed shrewdness to initiate the carnage by removing left-handed opener Taimim Iqbal. The youngster tested the southpaw with a pair of short balls before delivering a full, straight delivery which was directed at middle and off. The experienced Tamim played down the wrong ling and was bowled for a 13-ball duck.

In the next ball, Litton Das gifted Rabada a second wicket by flicking a delivery angled into the pads to midwicket, while Rabada clinched his hattrick by dismissing Mahmudullah Riyad in his comeback innings, as Riyad was beaten by a good length delivery, which saw him dismissed LBW in the last ball of the fourth over.

The fluent Soumya Sarkar was his next victim as the left-hander chipped an outside off-stump delivery, without any footwork, to the hands of JP Duminy at cover to put an end to his run-a-ball 27.

The home side's fate then fully rested on two seniors; Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim. They put together a short rescue operation before Mushfiqur once again fell to a poor dismissal which ended the 53-run fifth wicket stand. And once that was broken, Shakib looked to the team to a fighting total, but leg-spinner Imran Tahir trapped him in front and the batsman's review was unsuccessful. Nasir Hossain's 31-run innings helped Bangladesh bring some semblance of respectability to the total.

There had been much talk about the battle of spin, but South African skipper Hashim Amla had already warned everyone in the pre-match press conference the other day that his pace attack also had the ability to cause damage in any condition and his young pace-battery proved his words right in the first of the three-match series.

South Africa's pace attack was inexperienced but Rabada ensured that the absence of Morne Morkel would not be pronounced on his way to breaking West Indian Fidel Edwards's 6-22 record against Zimbabwe in 2003 at Harare for the best ODI haul by a debutant.