AB de Villiers (left) and Quinton de Kock were involved in 63-ball 95 run partnership for the first wicket © AFP
A good opening partnership and final overs helped South Africa cruise to 169 for the loss of 4 wickets against Bangladesh in the second Twenty20 International (T20I) at Dhaka on Tuesday. From the last two overs, South Africa scored 32 runs, owing to Rilee Rossouw‘s 19 off six balls and David Miller‘s knock of 30 from 28 balls. Live Cricket Blog: Bangladesh vs South Africa 2015, 2nd T20I at Dhaka
South Africa won the toss and skipper Faf du Plessis opted to bat. Ab de Villiers and Quinton de Kock once again opened the batting for South Africa. De Villiers did not waste much time in going after Arafat Sunny, who once again opened the bowling for Bangladesh. De Villiers slammed two fours in the first over. De Villiers and De Kock were involved in 63-ball 95 run partnership for the first wicket. Live scorecard: Bangladesh vs South Africa, 2nd T20I at Dhaka
Mashrafe Mortaza persisted with the same bolwing setup, as Nasir Hossain bowled the second over. However, he was also costly, as he bowled two wides, which Mushfiqur Rahim on both occasions could not collect. From two balls, Bangladesh had given away six runs. Arafat Sunny was punished in his second over, as Quinton de Kock went after him, smashing consecutive fours.
Mortaza decided to replace Nasir Hossain with young pacer Mustafizur Rahman. However, he started his spell with a wide and De Kock took advantage of the indiscipline bowling by smashing another boundary in the over. Mustafizur bowled few cutters which De Villiers did find it difficult to play. As De Villiers tried to jerk the ball away, it edged up but luckily landed where there were no fielders.
Shakib Al Hasan was introduced to the bowling the fifth over of the match. He bowled an economical over, as he gave away only five runs in his first over. In his second over, he went costly, as De Kock and De Villiers decided to go after the experience spinner. Shakib’s second over gave away 14 runs.
Mashrafe Mortaza came to bowl in the eighth over as De Villiers and De Kock’s partnership kept South Africa’s innings steer ahead. Poor fielding and extras added to Bangladesh’s dismal bowling performance. Even though eight runs came off Mortaza’s first over, over throws did not soothe the skipper’s misery.
Desperate situations forced Mortaza to bring on Soumya Sarkar into the bowling attack. Mortaza brought Arafat Sunny back into the attack after 10th over, when the spinner provided the first break for Bangladesh. Six balls later, JP Duminy was removed by Nasir Hossain, who was brought back into the attack by Mortaza. The next ball De Villiers was given caught behind by the umpire, as Bangladesh removed two set batsmen.
Faf du Plessis and David Miller were the two new batsmen. Du Plessis took no time in putting runs on the board as he hit Arafat Sunny for four.
Arafat Sunny ended his four overs with one wicket giving away 31 runs. Nasir Hossain finished his four overs with two wickets giving away 26 runs.
After losing De Villiers and De Kock, South Africa’s run rate slowed down. Runs kept coming in singles, with occasional fours coming in between. Mustafizur Rahman provided the next big break when he removed the dangerous man Du Plessis for 16. Mustafizur bowled yet another cutter, which went straight up and Mushfiqur took an easy catch to remove the South Africa skipper.
Rilee Rossouw and David Miller went after the bowlers in the final overs of the match. Miller hit one four and Rossouw followed that with two back-to-back sixes to steer South Africa past 150.
Rony Talukdar of Bangladesh and Eddie Leie of South Africa are making their debut in this match.
Brief scores:
South Africa 169 for 4 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 44, AB de Villiers 40, David Miller 30*; Nasir Hossain 2 for 26) vs Bangladesh.
(Sudatta Mukherjee is a reporter with CricketCountry. Other than writing on cricket, she spends penning random thoughts on her blog. When she is not writing, you will catch her at a movie theatre or watching some English televison show on her laptop. Her Twitter handle is @blackrosegal)