Sports Desk
NEW YORK: South Africa defeated Bangladesh by 4 runs in the T20 World Cup 2024 thriller played at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York, on Monday.
Bangladesh, just like South Africa, had a terrible start to their innings as the Proteas pacer wreaked havoc on their batters as all of Tanzid Hasan (9 off 9), Najmul Hossain Shanto (14 off 23), Liton Das (9 off 13) and Shakib Al Hasan (3 off 4) were back to the pavilion, leaving their side 50-4 in 9.5 overs.
Experienced all-rounder Mahmudullah and Towhid Hridoy’s 44-run partnership brought some stability to the struggling batting lineup. Hridoy played a great knock (37 off 34) under the difficult New York conditions but he was removed by Kagiso Rabada.
However, despite losing his partner, Mahmudullah remained on the pitch and stayed till the last over but he couldn’t guide his team to victory as Bangladesh ended their innings at 109-7.
Earlier in the first innings, South Africa set a 114-run target for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh bowlers were on top from the first over as Tanzim Hasan Sakib bamboozled the Proteas’ opening pair in his first two overs with Reeze Hendricks (0) and Quinton de Kock (18 off 11) returning to the pavilion early.
The next victim was no other than the Proteas’ skipper Aiden Markram as he was clean-bowled by Taskin Ahmed for just four runs in the fourth over. Bangladesh continued with their brilliant bowling as Tanzim Hasan struck once again and removed Tristan Stubbs for a duck.
It looked like yet another collapse while batting first in New York but David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen formed a crucial 79-run partnership and helped their side reach a decent total.
Klaasen contributed valuable 46 runs before losing his wicket to Taskin while Miller departed for the pavilion after posting 29 runs as South Africa concluded their innings at 113-6 runs in the allocated overs.
For Bangladesh, Tanzim Hasan picked three wickets, Taskin got two while Rishad Hossain bagged one.
Playing XIs
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Jaker Ali, Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan, Taskin Ahmed Mustafizur Rahman
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (capt), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ottneil Baartman
