Riding on the brilliant pace-bowling display by Taskin Ahmed, Bangladesh wrapped up South Africa for 154 in 37 overs on Wednesday in Centurion.
Ahead of this match, the series was on parity 1-1. If Bangladesh can win this match, they will make a history of winning their maiden ODI series in the soil of South Africa.
South Africa won the toss and sent Bangladesh to bowl first. In the first wicket stand, the hosts added 46 runs in just 6.5 overs. But after that, Taskin came to the fore and dismantled the batting line of the hosts.
Taskin started with the wicket of Kyle Verreynne. It was not the best delivery Taskin bowled in the match. It was short and wide, but Kyle only managed a bottom edge that has shattered his stumps when he was at 9 for 16 balls.
Mushfiqur Rahim took the catches on the other four occasions of Taskin’s five wickets in this match.
After Kyle, Taskin removed Janneman Malan, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius and Kagiso Rabada. Apart from the first scalped, Taskin delivered nearly all the perfect short balls to bag wickets. He led the Tigers all the way with the ball.
Along the way, the right-arm pacer completed his second five-for in ODIs. His maiden five-wicket haul came in 2014 against India in Mirpur. That was his debut in the format. After about an eight-year-long gap, Taskin finally recorded his second five-for.
Taskin ended up taking five wickets for 35 runs in nine overs.
South Africa eventually tumbled for 154 for all wickets in 37 overs with Malan posting the highest of 39 runs. Their second-highest runs scorer was Keshav Maharaj’s 28. He was trapped run-out by Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur as the last wicket.
Source: United News of Bangladesh