A six-wicket defeat to South Africa on Tuesday ended Bangladesh’s slim chance to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing T20 World Cup.
To grab the slimmest chance to book a berth in the semi-finals, Bangladesh had a must-win situation in their matches against South Africa (played today) and the final game against Australia.
On Tuesday, Bangladesh batted first in this match and posted only 84 runs suffering the worst batting collapse in this World Cup.
In reply, South Africa sealed the match with six wickets in hand in 13.3 overs with the captain Temba Bavuma hitting the highest 31 not out.
Taskin Ahmed was Bangladesh’s best bowler taking two wickets conceding 18 runs off four overs.
Earlier, four Bangladeshi batters— Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain and Nasum Ahmed— each suffered a duck and three of them fell for golden ducks.
While going to 35 from 22, Bangladesh lost five wickets— three to Kagiso Rabada inside five balls.
Rabada led the terrific bowling display from South Africa on a pitch that had something in it for the quicks.
Rabada conceded 20 runs to take three wickets in four overs, Anrich Nortje also bagged three wickets conceding eight runs in 3.3 overs.
Tabraiz Shamsi, the left-arm unorthodox spinner, bagged two wickets as well.
For Bangladesh, Mahedi Hasan was the best batter scoring 27 off 25 balls while Liton Das scored 24.
Eventually, Bangladesh tumbled for 84 all out in 18.2 overs. They never looked able to soak up the initial pressure and come up with something challenging for the Proteas.
“We weren’t good enough in the middle. That was a poor batting display, but ….there was enough assistance in the pitch. Taskin (Ahmed) has been bowling well in this tournament,” captain Mahmudulllah Riyad told the broadcaster after the match.
“We had the choice between Taskin and Fizzy (Mustafizur Rahman, but we went with Taskin because he has been bowling well in this tournament. It’s frustrating, but we could have won two games. If we had won those games, it would have been a different story,” he added.
It was the third-lowest total by any team against South Africa in the T20 World Cups.
With this lean display, Bangladesh became the first ICC full member nation to be bowled out under 100 thrice in a calendar year.
Bangladesh have lost three matches they have played before this one, and now with this, they have no chance left to qualify for the next phase of the World Cup.
“We have lost quick wickets early on, but full credit to Rabada and Nortje for exploiting it. It’s never easy when you have one guy bowling 150 and another getting so much out of the wicket with his skill,” Bavuma told the broadcaster.
Source: United News of Bangladesh