Published: Jul 15, 2015, 10:39 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 16, 2015, 12:49 AM (IST)
Pakistan couldn’t, a strong Indian side failed to tame them, now the mighty South Africans put down their weapons in front of the emerging powerhouse of world cricket, Bangladesh, who have made a habit of rewriting history these days. First some inspirational bowling by Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman later a counter-attacking opening partnership between Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal helped Bangladesh to cruise to the target of 170 in just 26.1 overs. With this victory Bangladesh complete their fourth successive series win at home and present a nice little ‘Eid-i’ for their fans. Blog: Bangladesh vs South Africa, 3rd ODI at Chittagong
Earlier in the game rain put the brakes on the proceedings, but did not dampen the spirits of the Bangladeshis. Some disciplined Bangladesh bowling and reckless batting by South Africa, restricted the visitors to just 168 for nine in their allotted 40 overs. Bangladesh chased down the D/L target of 170 with 13.5 overs to spare and nine wickets at their bag. Scorecard: Bangladesh vs South Africa, 3rd ODI at Chittagong
In the second innings, South Africa were never in the game. Their bowlers failed to control the wet ball and the aggression of Soumya and Tamim. No Proteas bowler looked threatening at all. Apart from Kyle Abbott, every other South African bowler had an economy rate of more than six runs in an over. It shows the dominance of the Bangla openers. Imran Tahir was their only successful bowler. He got the only Bangladeshi wicket which fell today, that too in the in the dire state of the match. READ: Mashrafe Mortaza requests Bangladesh Prime Minister for national holiday
The man of the match and series, Soumya narrowly missed out on his second ODI hundred by just 10 runs but before that, he showed his class. His innings of 90 off 75 balls were decorated by 13 fours and one six. As usual, he didn’t hesitate to play lofted shots, even against opposition’s best bowler, Morne Morkel, who was playing his 100th ODI. His attacking approach left South Africa clueless. It seemed that they didn’t have any gameplan against Soumya, who is certainly the most shining star of Bangladesh cricket at this moment. READ: Is Bangladesh Cricket’s rise due to Mashrafe Mortaza?
Tamim on the other hand played a supportive role. Apart from the team perspective, this innings was very crucial for his own career as well. After a few failures, pressure was mounting on him. But Tamim once again proved that he is the man when it comes to take the pressure of a big game. At the end he remained not out 61 off 77 balls and saw Bangladesh through to a historic series win.
In the first half of the game, it was a struggle for the South African batsmen, after their skipper Hashim Amla won the toss and chose to bat. They lost their opener Quinton de Kock in third over of the match when the southpaw tried to play a full ball of Mustafizur tailing onto his leg-stump but failed to connect. The ball sneaked past the bat and crashes into the leg stump. Faf du Plessis soon followed him tried to play an expensive shot against Shakib but failed to connect it properly. Mushfiqur Rahim completed the rest of work by taking the high catch quite easily.
Shakib reached the milestone of 200th ODI wickets when he claimed the wicket of Amla. It was a beautifully tossed up delivery which tempted the experienced Amla to play an cover drive. But he could only manage a outside edge to the keeper as the ball turned slightly after pitching. Rilee Rossouw also got out LBW to Mahmudullah’s off-spin and South Africa were tottering at 50 for four in the 16th overs.
From their David Miller and JP Duminy put up some kind of resistance with a 63-run partnership for the fifth wicket. During the course of this partnership the game was halted for almost three hours following a heavy rain. When the game restarted, it was reduced to a 40-over encounter. Miller and Duminy kept on fighting for the visitors.
Mashrafe Mortaza broke the dangerous looking partnership when he got rid of Miller. This was also Mortaza’s 200th ODI wicket. Flood gates were open after that dismissal. Wickets in regular intervals halted South Africa’s progress and they could only manage to reach 168. Duminy, who scored his 21st ODI half-century, was South Africa’s highest scorer. He got out in last ball of the innings after scoring 51 off 70 balls. For Bangladesh Shakib was the most successful bowler with figure of three for 33. He was well supported by Mustafizur and Rubel Hossian.
The score was never a challenging one and Bangladesh finish the job very professionally. Both teams will now change gear and lock horn in the two match Test series, with the first one starting from July 21 at Chittagong.
Brief scores:
South Africa 168 for 9 in 40 overs (David Miller 44, JP Duminy 51; Mustafizur Rahman 2 for 24, Shakib al Hasan 3 for 33) lost to Bangladesh 170 for 1 in 26.1 overs (Soumya Sarkar 90, Tamim Iqbal 61*; 1 for 37) by 9 wickets.
Man of the match: Soumya Sarkar
Man of the series: Soumya Sarkar
(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)
