Twitter Reactions: South Africa take lead with a comfortable win

Bloemfontein hosted the first Twenty20 International between South Africa and Bangladesh. Both the skippers JP Duminy and Shakib Al Hasan had more than a point to make as stand-in captains for their respective teams. Duminy won the toss and on a good batting surface asked the visitors to bowl first. In a rather historic move, Bangladesh opened with a spinner from both ends as Shakib and Mehidy Hasan tried to spin a web around the Proteas.

It seemed to work when the youngster castled the veteran Hashim Amla pretty cheap for just 3 runs. But the other opener Quinton de Kock and the devastating AB de Villiers soon spoiled their party. The duo blasted the Bangladeshi bowlers all around and over the park. De Villiers who is fresh from his herculean knock of 174 scored his runs with a tremendous strike rate of 181. QDK got to his half century but just as he would’ve wanted to accelerate was hit in front on a Rubel Hussain delivery and he walked back for 59.

De Villiers, unfortunately, missed his fifty by a run and the duo departed with the team score on 97 for 2 in 10 overs. South Africa had the time in hand and just had to capitalize on the amazing start. David Miller and Farhaan Behardien with their 25 and 36-run knocks took the team very close to the 200-run mark as they concluded the innings on 195/4 in 20 overs. For Bangladesh Mehidy was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/31.

It was a daunting task for the inexperienced yet energetic Bangladeshi side to chase down this total against the Proteas. But they weren’t going to give it away without making a real effort. Though they lost two key batters Imrul Kayes and Shakib early in the innings Soumya Sarkar held things together. All the while he waited for an able partner but the top order batters got starts and gave their wicket away.

Under 20 scores from Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman along with a single digit contribution Mahmadullah made didn’t help their cause either as the lower order was left with a bit too much to do. Mohammad Saifuddin tried his best with a 27-ball 39 runs cameo but in the end, Bangladesh fell short of the target by 20 runs.

Here we present some of the most noteworthy reactions that emerged on Twitter during the course of the game: