EAST MEADOW, New York, CMC – South Africa all but qualified for the Super Eight quarterfinal stage of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup after left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj held his nerve to defend 11 in the final over and secure a four-run win against Bangladesh on Monday.
Chasing a modest 114 to win in the Group D match on the notoriously untrustworthy Nassau County Stadium pitch, the Bangladeshis got to within reach of their second win in the tournament, but they lost two wickets in the final over from Maharaj trying to get over the finish line.
Maharaj conceded a comprehensive, a single, and a deuce to start the over, then got Jaker Ali caught inside the long-on boundary for eight with the third ball before a leg bye off the fourth ball was followed by Mahmudullah also being caught at long-on for 20.
A six was required off the last ball of the match, but new batsman Taskin Ahmed could only bunt a full toss from Maharaj to mid-wicket and get one run to enable the South Africans to escape with their third win in as many matches.
Maharaj was the most successful South African bowler, ending with three for 27 from his allotted four overs, but frontline pacers Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada set up the tense finish with spells of two for 17 and two for 19, respectively, from their four overs.
The result meant the Proteas top the five-team group table with six points, but they are the only team to have completed three matches so far.
The Bangladeshis are second on two points thanks to a superior net run rate to The Netherlands, who are third on the same number of points, both having played twice.
Fourth, Nepal has played only one match and lost, while rock-bottom Sri Lanka has played twice and lost both matches.
A T20 World Cup record 79-run, fifth wicket stand between Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller rescued South Africa and enabled them to reach 113 for six from their allocation of 20 overs after they won the toss and decided to bat.
Pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib bagged three for 18 from his allotted four overs and triggered a South African top order collapse that had them reeling on 25 for four at the close of the Power Play after the first six overs.
However, Klaasen hit the top score of 46 to earn the Player-of-the-Match award, and Miller supported it with 29. They ushered the Proteas past 100 with their highest fifth-wicket partnership in a T20 World Cup against disciplined, if not menacing, Bangladesh bowling.
“I think all the batters are keen to get out of this place, to be fair,” Klaasen told reporters at a post-play news conference. “The bowlers would love to stay here.
“But, no, we’ve done our job – that was the goal – to win three out of three (in the United States). It was a little bit harder than we thought, but that’s also good preparation for going into the next phase of this competition.
“We’ve dealt with pressure very well in these three games, and it’s always a good experience, and you can put it in a notebook and always go back when the tough times are there again.”
The Bangladeshis too, found it difficult to score freely against mean, purposeful bowling from South Africa, but a 44-run, fifth wicket stand between Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah appeared to put them on track for victory.
A successful finish for Bangladesh began to look murky when Hridoy was lbw to Rabada for the top score of 37, and they needed 20 from the last 17 balls of the match for their first win against the South Africans in nine tries.
“We all know this is a slightly tricky (pitch),” Hridoy told reporters at a post-play news conference. “I think every match will be a low-scoring game. I think we have to adapt to the situation as soon as possible.
“We lost a lot of confidence [in chasing] that score… I should have finished the match. It’s difficult for new batsmen to adjust to the conditions.
“The outfield is also slow. I think if we show the intent from a batting point of view, it will be better. If you saw the last couple of matches, it’s always low scoring, and I think it’s a bit challenging for batsmen. Every batsman is struggling a bit here.”
Group D continues when Nepal and Sri Lanka search for their first win on Tuesday under the lights at the Broward County Regional Park in the American city of Lauderhill in the state of Florida.
Bangladesh meets The Netherlands in their next match on Thursday at the Arnos Vale Cricket Ground in St Vincent, whereas South Africa faces the Nepalese under the lights on Friday for theirs.
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