Bangladesh batsmen failed to release the pressure of a lofty total as they sustained a commanding 104-run defeat against South Africa in a rain hit Super 12 of the ICC T20 World Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.
With Anrich Nortje scalping 4 and Tabraiz Shamsi, Keshav Maharj, Kagiso Rabada took three and one wicket each respectively the Tigers were bowled out for 101 in 16.3 overs, pursuing a sky-high 205-5 in their second game of the marquee tournament.
Liton Das was the pick among the Tigers as he made a 31-ball 34 run while his fellow colleagues failed to go beyond 20.
Earlier Rilee Rossouw blasted his career best 109 off 56 balls, his second T20I ton and Quito de Kock smashed a 38 ball 68.
Sakib Al Hasan claimed two and Taskin Ahmed, Afif Hossain took one wicket each.
Opting to bat first the Proteas lost their opener Temba Bavuma just for 2 inside the first over leaving the side to a staggering 2-1.
However, in the second wicket stand Rossouw and de Kock formed a groundbreaking 168 run partnership surpassing Sri Lanka’s 166 in 2010 against the West Indies before the latter was dismissed for a 38-ball 63, his 15th T20 fifty in 14.3 overs.
Russouw who appeared as the demotion man and earned a 30-ball fifty followed by a flurry 51-ball hundred was removed by Shakib in 18.3 overs for a muscular 109 off 56 balls by Shakib leaving the side to a daunting 197-4.
Later a run-a-ball 7, 10 off 11 and unbeaten 2 from Tristan Stubbs, Aiden Markram and David Miller respectively powered the Proteas to a mammoth 205-5.
In reply, although Bangladesh made a stormy start with Najmul Hossan Shanto and Soumya Sarkar hitting a four and two maximums in the first over to post 17 without any loss however the opening pair couldn’t endure their tempo as the latter gave a catch to de Kock behind the stumps for a 11-ball 15 in the first delivery of third over by Nortje.
Najmul followed the steps of his partner just after three balls by the same bowler for slow 15-ball9.
However, apart from Liton Das not a single batsman in Middle or lower-middle could go beyond the threshold of 20 that suffered them to fall on a stuttering 89-9 in 14.5 overs.
A late 3-ball 9 swirl from Mustafizur Rahman and a 17-ball from Taskin Ahmed helped the Tigers to exceed 100 before the latter fell to Nortje with 21 balls to spare.
