South Africa v Bangladesh 2nd T20I, 2017: Who Said What

After the victory against Bangladesh in the first T20I at Bloemfontein, South Africa were all set to pile on the agony for the disconsolate visitors. On the other hand, after performing fairly decently in the first game, Bangladesh would have hoped for a happy ending to what had been a forgettable tour for them. The second T20I between Bangladesh and South Africa at Potchefstroom eventually turned out to be a one-sided affair. Consequently, South Africa attained victory in a canter to clinch the series 2-0. On a batting paradise, Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and elected to field first.

The toss was probably the only thing that went in Bangladesh’s favour during the entire game. Shakib-Al-Hasan cleaned up debutant Mangaliso Mosehle and cheaply for scores of 5 and 4 respectively to start proceedings. From South Africa’s perspective, Hashim Amla fired on all cylinders to score 85 runs off 51 balls. The turning point of the game came in the second ball of the 11th over when Mushfiqur Rahim grassed David Miller’s catch when the South African hadn’t opened his account. The next 58 balls turned out to be a nightmare for Bangladesh as Miller muscled his way to the fastest T20I century in 36 balls, surpassing Richard Levi’s ton in 45 balls.

An uphill task for the Tigers

The carnage propelled South Africa to a score of 224/4 in 20 overs. Amidst some shambolic performance, Shakib’s bowling figures of 4-0-22-2 stood out. Tracking down 225 runs was always going to be a daunting task for Bangladesh. They showed the right intent but somehow couldn’t get things in place. Wickets went down way too frequently for Bangladesh to garner any sort of momentum. Soumya Sarkar played some delightful strokes in his knock of 44 from 41 balls, but apart from him, no Bangladesh batsman was able to pose a threat to the Proteas bowlers.

Bangladesh could eventually manage 141 runs in 18.3 overs and stumbled to a defeat by a mammoth 83 runs. Jean-Paul Duminy faltered with the bat, but returned with figures of 4-0-23-2 to take the sting out of the Bangladesh’s batting. Here’s what the skippers had to say after the game and the series.

Jean-Paul Duminy said:

Pretty happy with that (win). Nice to contribute to the team. It was good to get an opportunity to bowl in the first six overs and I was pretty happy with my performance. I’ve been working on my bowling. It’s a great opportunity to get a game and represent the country. The way we’ve come back in our bowling was brilliant. We’ve got 6-7 weeks off, we head back to domestic cricket. It’s going to be a big series against India. Looking forward to it.

Shakib Al Hasan said:

I thought we bowled in the very good areas, but credit to Miller. Today was the reflection of the series; we need to work hard and learn a lot. Time to improve and get better away from home. South Africa have a few players that can take the game away and we simply had to take wickets. There were something for the spinners in the pitch. We are playing Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe next at home. Hopefully, it’ll be a good series.

Man of the match and Man of the series David Miller said:

It was pretty special (about his ton). You don’t wake up in the morning and expect something like that. I was pretty slow to start with, could’ve been out in the first ten balls. It was good to get the hundred. I thought I might go for it (6 sixes).