Centurion - Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal described his side’s first ever win in South Africa as special, and one and of which he was extremely proud
In 20 years of touring South Africa the Tigers had suffered 19 defeats across all three formats to the Proteas. That run ended at SuperSport Park on Friday, with Tamim leading his assured, and highly skilled side to a comfortable 38-run victory in the opening Betway One-Day International.
“It’s a big win for us, a very special win,” said a smiling Tamim.
It was a performance to which all 11 Bangladesh players contributed as they out-thought, and out-played a home team, whose skipper Temba Bavuma acknowledged afterwards needed to take a strong look at itself.
Litton Das (50), Yasir Ali (50) and player of the match Shakib Al-Hasan who made 77 led the way with the bat as Bangladeh put up 314/7 in their allotted 50 overs.
However Tamim pointed to the contributions of the lower order as being crucial to the outcome. “They all delivered something, Mehidy (Hasan) with those two sixes, Afif (Hossain) with a four and a six and Mahmadullah with his 25…all of that matters.”
Then Bangladesh’s bowling overwhelmed the South Africans, who slumped to 36/3 in the ninth over.
"There's a lot of conversations for us to have with the bowling unit." 💬
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) March 18, 2022
"When you are chasing over 300, you need someone to get a hundred and someone to support them. 💬
Temba Bavuma reflects on the Proteas' defeat and the areas they need to improve in. #SAvBAN
Rassie van der Dussen with 86 and David Miller with 79 gave the home team hope, but Bangladesh’s trio of fast bowlers, led by the outstanding Taskin Ahmed, who picked up 3/37 and off-spinner Mehidy with 4/61, guided their team across the line.
“People always think of Bangladesh as just being about spinners, but in the last two years the fast bowlers have been performing brilliantly,” said Tamim.
There’ll be a lot of talking amongst South Africa’s fast bowlers who performed well below standards when Bangladesh batted. While they restricted Bangladesh to less than 50 runs in the first 15 overs, the lack of penetration allowed the tourists to build a foundation.
Then the lines and lengths went awry as Shakib and Yasir dominated.
“Them scoring 180 in the last 20 overs really hurt us,” said Bavuma. “We generally adapt quite well, but we took a little too long to do that today and those last five overs in which they got (48 runs) really cost us.”
Bavuma said his bowlers needed to strike inside the power play and that ahead of Sunday’s second ODI at the Wanderers, they’ll be searching for answers as to how to do that.