Recent Match Report – South Africa vs Bangladesh 3rd ODI 2021/22

Majestic 2022 continues for Bangladesh as bowling effort sets up comfortable chase for batting unit

Bangladesh 156 for 1 (Tamim 87*, Litton 48) beat South Africa 154 (Malan 39, Maharaj 28, Taskin 5-35) by nine wickets

Before this tour, South Africa had never lost to Bangladesh at home in 20 years. They would rue a lot of their decisions in this game, particularly Temba Bavuma choosing to bat on a SuperSport Park pitch that seemed to be quite tacky. They got off to a strong start, but several of their batters were guilty of looking for boundaries and boundaries alone, which led them into making a considerable amount of mistakes.

de Kock’s wicket sucked the life out of the home side and Taskin used the opening to get the big wickets. He quickly removed Kyle Verreynne, who made a fifty in the second game. Malan, who eventually top scored with 39, also fell to Taskin’s clever thinking. Seeing Malan advance down the wicket, Taskin bowled a quicker, shorter delivery that Malan could only edge. Mushfiqur Rahim took a smart catch moving to his right.

Kagiso Rabada was Taskin’s fifth wicket but the moment was soured slightly when Mushfiqur, who took the edge, sprained his shoulder by throwing the ball up in celebration. The Bangladesh wicketkeeper had to leave the field but he returned not too long after, sporting a rather sheepish smile. South Africa’s innings ended in shambles when Keshav Maharaj, who made a fighting 28, was run after No. 11 Tabraiz Shamsi refused a single off the last ball of the 37th over.

A streaky boundary in the 18th over brought up the 100-run opening stand – Bangladesh’s seventh in an overseas ODI, and the second one against South Africa. Maharaj finally broke the partnership when Litton popped one to cover in the 21st over. Litton’s 48 included eight boundaries, mostly hit through square on the off side. He allowed Tamim to do the bulk of the scoring in their 127-run stand.

Tamim, who hadn’t scored an ODI fifty since his century against Zimbabwe in July last year, batted with intent. He cracked 14 fours in his 82-ball 87, and was particularly severe on South Africa’s quicks. He was relentless against Maharaj and Shamsi too. Tamim’s knock embodied Bangladesh’s mindset before and during this ODI series.