South Africa beat Bangladesh by 52 runs

South Africa won the opening game of the 2-match T20I series against Bangladesh by a comfortable margin of 52 runs at Mirpur stadium today.

Batting first after winning the toss, Proteas pilled up 148/4 on the slow wicket at Mirpur thanks to a captain’s knock from Faf du Plessis.

Faf became the highest scorer in Bangladesh versus South Africa T20I matches with 79 runs to his name.

He was ably supported by Rilee Rossouw’s cameo late in the innings, their 58-run unbeaten stand giving the Proteas the winning total at Mirpur.

Arafat Sunny was the best bowler from Bangladesh as he picked up 2 wickets for 19 runs in three overs.

Shakib Al Hasan was the top-scorer for Tigers with 26 runs.

Mustafizur Rahman was the last man to be dismissed as South Africa romped home with seven balls left in the innings.

Litton Das went back to the pavilion three balls later when AB de Villiers held on to a skier from the debutant.

Bangladeshi batsman picked up 22 runs from 26 balls in his first T20I game.

Bangladesh’s eighth wicket came in the form of Sohag Gazi’s run out when the batsman ran with the ball going straight to the fielder at square-leg.

Mashrafe stay lasted only four balls at the wicket as the run-rate required compelled him to use the long handle.

He scored five before being Rabada’s second victim of the match.

Any chance Bangladesh had of a comeback was snuffed out with Shakib Al Hasan’s departure in the 14th over.

Shakib made 26 from 30 balls before his lap-sweep ended up straight down the throat of Wayne Parnell at short fine leg.

South African spinners kept the pressure up on Bangladesh with breakthroughs in regular intervals.

It was time for Phangiso to come to party after Duminy when he sent Bangladesh’s allrounder Nasir Hossain back for only a single run to his name.

Tigers lost half their side when Nasir failed to keep his uppish drive down and was caught by Rossouw at short cover.

Tigers went sent reeling in their chase when JP Duminy picked up his second wicket of the match with Sabbir Rahman caught behind for 4.

Sabbir went for a reverse sweep that Quinton anticipated brilliantly. The Proteas wicketkeeper hung on to an acrobatic catch after the ball struck his thigh.

The promising partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim of 37 runs was nipped in the bud by JP Duminy against the run of play.

Mushfiqur Rahim fell going for the big shot when he failed to clear David Miller at mid-wicket. He scored 17 runs with two boundaries before being sent back to the pavilion.

Soumya Sarkar’s nervy stay at the wicket was brought to an end by Rabada when the South African bowler bounced out the left-hander.

Soumya was stuck in an awkward position to pull, and ended up hitting under the ball and finding Duminy at square-leg. He scored seven runs.

Tamim Iqbal failed to fire in this match as he was caught down the leg-side after scoring only 5 runs from four balls.

Kyle Abbott’s extra pace was responsible for Tamim gloving the ball to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.

Earlier, Bangladesh managed to keep the visitors down to 148 in 20 overs with disciplined bowling and good support from the fielders.

South Africa found the spinners quite difficult to dispatch on the slow wicket at Mirpur.

Arafat Sunny was the pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets for 19 runs in 3 overs.

Nasir Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan picked up one wicket each.

Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis was the mainstay of his team’s batting effort in the opening game of the tour.

He was instrumental in two crucial partnerships with JP Duminy and Rilee Rossouw after wickets fell early.

Faf also became the highest scorer in Bangladesh-South Africa T20 matches with his brilliant knock of 79 runs from 61 balls.

He hammered eight boundaries during his unbeaten stay at the wicket.

Shakib Al Hasan became the highest wicket-taker in T20 format for Tigers when he captured his 45th wicket by sending back David Miller.

Miller was leg-before-wicket to Bangladesh’s top allrounder when he planted his front leg down the pitch and was struck in line. He scored a run from three balls.

Arafat Sunny picked up his second victim of the match when broke the du Plessis-Duminy 46-run stand by dismissing the Proteas left-hander for 18.

JP Duminy faced 22 balls and struck a boundary before he dragged the ball towards leg with his lofted shot and gave Nasir Hossain a catch in the outfield.

Nasir Hossain gave the Tigers their second wicket when Proteas wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock lobbed an easy catch to debutant Litton Das at cover.

Quinton scored 12 runs from 8 balls with a solitary six to his name.

Bangladeshi spinners kept the South African batters honest with smart bowling the opening powe-play overs of the match.

Captain Mashrafe’s plan to open with Arafat Sunny worked perfectly as the spinner sent back the dangerous  AB de Villiers in the first over.

AB made room to carve a length ball through the off-side, but struck it straight to Mashrafe at cover point. He scored only 2 before being dismissed.

Photo taken from South Africa's Twitter page.

Bangladesh Team

Tamim Iqbal, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (Wicketkeeper), Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Mashrafe Mortaza (Captain), Mustafizur Rahman, and Arafat Sunny

South Africa Team

Q de Kock (Wicketkeeper), RR Rossouw, AB de Villiers, F du Plessis (Captain), DA Miller, JP Duminy, D Wiese, WD Parnell, KJ Abbott, AM Phangiso and  K Rabada