Skipper Faf du Plessis, Duminy's all-round show sparkle tourist- Bangladesh v South Africa 1st T20I Review

Skipper Faf du Plessis, Duminy’s all-round show sparkle tourist- Bangladesh v South Africa 1^st T20I Review: A clean South African team starts up the Bangladesh tour with a thumping victory in the first T20 by 52 runs in Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. Proteas dominated with both bat and ball to blank the host, surprisingly their spinners was seen getting more purchase from the wicket and looked more lethal than the Bangladeshi spinners. And that’s what proved to be the major difference in the game.

With the home side’s confidence touching sky after two back-to-back series win against Pakistan and India; the Bangladeshi’s have been brought back to earth – at least momentarily. On a wicket that aided the spinners, South Africa batted sensibly and posted a total that gave their bowlers a total to bowl at. Once the Bangladesh openers were dismissed the task became easy.

Winning the toss, the visitors posted a modest 148 for 4 in their respective 20 overs. In reply the home team was bundled out for 96 in 18.5 overs as they fell short by 52 runs. The South African bowlers were up at the task defending a decent total with K Rabada, David Wiese and offie JP Duminy claiming two wickets each.

Chasing 149, Bangladesh openers failed to keep the momentum at start as both Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar was wrapped up early with score reeling at 13-2. Experienced duo of Shakib and Mushfiquar Rahim started the rescue work for the home side but as soon as they started playing freely, Rahim was dumped by a Duminy delivery hitting it straight to Miller.

And in no time Bangladesh lost the plot with quick wickets in the middle overs. The spin duo of JP Duminy and AM Phangiso bowled at right areas combining with the turn they generated made them very difficult to get away.

Only left-handed batsman Shakib-Ul-Hasan (26) and young debutant Litton Das (22) managed to score over 20 but with a strike rate under 100. Wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiquar Rahim was the third highest with 17 runs, tells the story of Banglaseshi batters.

Earlier, batting first South Africa started off with a new strategy by opening with AB de Villiers in Hashim Amla’s absence. The experiment didn’t work as the ODI skipper was dismissed for just 2.

For Proteas it was T20 captain Faf du Plessis who stood up and played some eye-catching stokes in his innings of 79 from 66 balls, including eight boundaries. Which also helped him won the Man of the Man Award. Rilee Rossouw came into the party with an unbeaten quick fire 31 off 21 balls with two boundaries and two sixes, which helped Proteas post a decent total.

Brief Score:

South Africa 148-10 4 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 79; Arafat Sunny 2-19) won by 52 runs.

Bangladesh 96-10 18.5 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 26; JP Duminy 2-11)