T20 World Cup: South Africa hunting semifinals eliminate Bangladesh.

T20 World Cup, Bangladesh vs South Africa: Disrupting Bangladesh’s innings for just 84 South Africa stands tall in the second place of the group table after winning by 6 wickets. With this result, Bangladesh are now officially eliminated from the semifinal equation.

Chasing just 85 runs, South Africa’s was not ideal. Losing Reeza Hendricks of a beautiful inswinger from Taskin Ahmed. Bangladesh was looking to do what South Africa were able to do however they lacked the edge and tactically they were outplayed.

Only Taskin Ahmed was bowling with intent, his spell was wonderful picking up two wickets and creating pressure with his dot balls. Had the total been 120 runs, South Africa would have found it hard.

Anyway, Spin was introduced in the fifth over to tackle Quinton de Kock. Quinton created two boundaries in two balls but a flatter ball angled in which spun just a little bit to clean the lefty.

Another big wicket, in form Aiden Markram, was out for nothing by Taskin Ahmed. It was the partnership between the skipper, Temba Bavuma, and Rassie van der Dussen which took the game away from Bangladesh’s reach.

The winning runs were scored by the last match hero, David Miller, who went for a four off Mahedi Hasan. Defending such a small total is a nightmare for any team and batting on a pitch that is settled down enough is very easy.

Everybody talks about batters being out of form but Kagiso Rabada was certainly not in his form since the IPL 2021. In the first three matches too, he underperformed. However, this match was his outing, his opening spell thundered fireball on the Bangla batters.

Picking up three wickets, especially the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim was very important. He was well supported from other end by Anrich Nortje and then Dwaine Pretorius.

Extending the record of most T20I wickets in a calendar year, Tabraiz Shamsi picked up two wickets here as well. Trapping the well-set Liton Das and then setting up Shamim Hossain.

Liton Das was looking good however, the illusionary support from the other side was not seen which eventually increased pressure on him. Mahedi Hasan too experienced something similar, but he had a clear mindset to attack and gather as many runs as possible.

The finishing touch to the art piece was done by Anrich Nortje. He just bullied the batters with his pace at the end when the lower tail was at the crease. Mahedi, who was the only hope, was also the victim of Anrich Nortje following a soft caught and bowled.

Nothing was going right for Bangladesh or we can say nothing has gone right for Bangladesh in this tournament. From poor match results to injury scares, they have been in a heap of trouble. But now the worry ends, as they will have the time to regroup and make some impactful decisions.

While South Africa has come back strong after the loss against Australia. They are sitting second ahead of Australia and with a better NRR too. If they want to qualify they have to at least present a tough game against their last opponent England.

Watch the highlights of Bangladesh vs South Africa, ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

ICC T20 World Cup 2021, Bangladesh vs South Africa: post match presentation.

Kagiso Rabada: (Man of the Match)

“The wicket favored the seamers and I am glad that it was my day. We train hard and it finally paid off. It was not a surprise that the ball moved so much as it did help the bowlers in the Indian T20 League as well. I am happy Anrich Nortje and it feels good bowling alongside him.”

Temba Bavuma:

“It was a good day for us. Rabada and Nortje exploited the conditions well. We are blessed to have bowlers like them. We wanted to get to the target early but the ball was still nipping around when I went in to bat. We have a big game coming up against England and we need to play our best cricket.”

Mahmudullah:

“The wicket was pretty good to bowl on but it was poor batting from our side. Taskin Ahmed has been bowling really well for us and we wanted to give more chances to him. We are disappointed as we were close to winning two games but unfortunately were not able to do so.”