Bangladesh v South Africa, 3rd ODI: Who Said What

Before the start of the Test series between Bangladesh and South Africa, the odds were heavily stacked against the visitors. Bangladesh showed promise, but failed to grasp opportunities on several occasions. Consequently, they stumbled to a 2-0 whitewash against the might of the Proteas.

The One Day International series was speculated to be a close-fought one. However, Bangladesh’s horrendous run continued and they were thrashed black and blue by South Africa with a margin of 3-0. The third and final ODI at East London was a dead rubber.

However, after having lost the series, Bangladesh had the chance to salvage some pride and give South Africa a run for their money. Nevertheless, it didn’t pan out that way as they were humbled by 200 runs on a seemingly decent batting wicket at the Buffalo Park.

After South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first, the Proteas stormed into the ascendancy and never allowed Bangladesh to get a foothold into the game. Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock kicked off proceedings with a 119-run stand.

De Villiers went cheaply, but Faf du Plessis (91 retired hurt) and debutant Aiden Markram (66 from 60 balls) played brilliantly to propel South Africa to a score of 369 in 50 overs. During their chase, the Bangladesh batsmen struggled big time and never came to terms with the conditions and the South African bowling attack.

Apart from Shakib-Al-Hasan’s gritty 63 runs and Sabbir Rahman’s 39 runs, none of their batsman could put up a fight. South Africa used six bowlers and everyone chipped in with at least a wicket. Dane Paterson was the pick of their bowlers with a spell of 9-0-44-3.

Quite expectantly, Faf du Plessis was adjudged the Player of the Match, courtesy his stupendous knock of 91 runs. Here’s what the players had to say after the end of the series.

AB de Villiers – stand-in captain

It was fun. Easy to captain a side when they are playing so well. We took one game at a time. We played a clinical game of cricket. We never gave them a sniff. The bowling was spot on. Impressed with the talent coming through. Excited by the two youngsters. And also Temba was good with the bat.

Mashrafe Mortaza

 All three matches, it was so difficult. Two T20Is are left. Hope the boys play with passion. Bowling was a big concern and so was the batting. We didn’t get any partnerships going. We need to get early wickets in these conditions. We can’t make any excuses. This is something we can learn. T20s will be fresh.

Quinton de Kock, Man of the Series

The new balls have come on very nicely. It was a tough series against England. Good to contribute here. All wickets were similar. 168 (knock in the first ODI) stands out the most – probably most favourite. He (Temba Bavuma) keeps me on the feet. Nice little change up. New blood and he did well. It’d have been nice if both of us had kicked on. It’s (T20) a different ball game. Bangladesh will be a stronger team in the shorter format. Let’s see what happens.

– Written by Sabyasachi Chowdhury