T20 World Cup 2022 Match 22 - Predicted Bangladesh Playing XI vs South Africa

Bangladesh will be eyeing a second straight win when they face a formidable South Africa in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 encounter at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday, October 27. The Asian side will need to focus on their fragile batting, which was exposed against the Netherlands where they ended up losing half their side with hardly much on the board.

It was courtesy of the bowlers and an outstanding four-wicket haul from senior pacer Taskin Ahmed that Bangladesh were able to get over the line by nine wickets and add the first two points to their tally. They now have their task cut out against the South Africans who have a point to prove after rain deprived them of a humungous win against Zimbabwe in their tournament opener. 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh would not be interested in making any changes to their playing XI and would stick to the same winning combination in the next game as well.

Here's a look at Bangladesh's Playing XI against South Africa:

Openers: Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar

The onus would be on the opening pair of Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar to help Bangladesh get off to a good start. Shanto was impressive in the last game against the Netherlands where he scored 25 runs off 20 deliveries. He would now be hoping to convert his good starts into big scores. 

Soumya Sarkar has the ability to play game-changing knocks once he gets set and can tear apart any bowling attack with his fearless batting approach. He did get off to a good start against the Dutch, scoring a run-a-ball 14 before losing his wicket just when he seemed to be accelerating.

Middle-Order: Litton Das, Yasir Ali, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk)

Bangladesh might be struggling in the shortest format for a while, but Litton Kumar Das is one of their key players in T20Is. An injury forced him to miss this year's Asia Cup but since then he has gone on to amass nearly 200 runs in the seven matches. He had a forgettable outing against Bangladesh scoring just nine runs against his name. 

Yasir Ali would need to make amends for his previous failure where he fell for just three runs against his name. Even wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan was not impressive as he scored a painstaking 13 runs from 18 deliveries. Afif Hossain was Bangladesh's savior and top-scorer with an impactful knock of 38 runs from 27 balls. 

All-Rounders: Shakib Al Hasan and Mosaddek Hossain

Shakib Al Hasan will have to use his experience for the team, having been playing in the T20 World Cup ever since its inception in 2007. Shakib failed with the bat against the Dutch and was also expensive with the ball in hand, finishing with figures of 1/32 from his four overs.

Mosaddek Hossain might have conceded 14 runs in the only over that he bowled, but he played a crucial knock of an unbeaten 20 runs from 12 deliveries that helped in Bangladesh posting a respectable total on the board. He would want to make such handy contributions again.

Bowlers: Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud

Taskin Ahmed was the Player of the Match against the Netherlands as he finished with match-winning figures of 4/25 from his four overs at an economy of 6.3. Meanwhile, pace spearhead Mustafizur Rahman went wicketsless, but he did succeed in keeping the Dutch batters quiet with his economical spell, conceding just 20 runs from his four overs. Hasan Mahmud was the second-best bowler for Bangladesh against the Netherlands, finishing with figures of 2/15 from his four overs, including a maiden.

Bangladesh Predicted XI: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Yasir Ali, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mosaddek Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud