Tigers out with a whimper

There was no fighting instinct or glimpse of self-confidence as a sorry-looking Bangladesh team continued their poor run in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup with a fourth consecutive defeat in the super 12 stage, this time losing by six wickets against South Africa at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

It was probably the worst performance by Bangladesh in the ongoing tournament as they were bundled out for just 84 runs in 18.2 overs, a total chased down by the Proteas with six wickets in hand and 39 balls to spare.

Among the few positives, if one would want to look for, is that they were able to dismiss four of the South African batsmen defending a low total and take the game till the 14th over.

South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma remained unbeaten on 31 to register their third win in four games while Taskin Ahmed was the best bowler for Bangladesh with two wickets for 18 runs.

It was a dreadful batting display from the Bangladesh team after they were sent in to bat, with two changes made to the side -- young Shamim Hossain making his World Cup debut in place of injured Shakib Al Hasan and left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed replacing out-of-sorts Mustafizur Rahman.

Mahedi Hasan's 27 in the latter stage of the innings helped Bangladesh avoid extreme humiliation while Liton Das' 24 and Shamim's 11 were the other notable contributions with the bat.

Bangladesh's top order failings were brutally exposed again as they scored 28 runs losing three wickets in the Powerplay.

The eventual total of 84 was Bangladesh's sixth lowest in T20Is with only three batsmen reaching the double-figure mark.

Bangladesh's lack of skill facing quality seamers was on full display as the likes of Mohammad Naim (9), Soumya Sarkar (0) and Mushfiqur Rahim (0) had no clue to Proteas' speedster Kagiso Rabada.

Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals and at one point were reeling at 45 for six, from where there was no way back for the Tigers.