Bangladesh’s shambolic T20 World Cup campaign hits another low as they suffered a six-wicket defeat in the hands of South Africa in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. With this loss, Bangladesh are now officially out of the World Cup.
It was another disgraceful batting display from the Tigers, who gave Proteas a paltry total of 84 to chase. The 84 was Bangladesh's third lowest total in the T20 World Cup and with this score, Bangladesh also became the first Full Member side to be bowled out for under 100 thrice in a calendar year.
South Africa did not face much trouble to chase this meagre total and won the match with 6.3 overs to spare. On a miserable day for the Tigers, pacer Taskin Ahmed’s aggressive bowling provided the fans with something to cheer. The right-arm pacer troubled the South African batters with his pace, bounce and swing off the pitch and scalped the wickets of opener Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram.
The biggest disappointment for the Bangladeshi fans would be the lack of intent with the bat on Tuesday. Bangladesh weren't Bangladesh to be honest. Mohammad Naim and Liton Das hardly pressed the accelerator and pacer Kagiso Radaba had lovely seamer-friendly conditions to get his back. He was on a hat-trick at one-point and then the brute of pacer Nortje was tough to handle for Bangladesh. Pace, bounce – Bangladesh batters were hopping and fending. Liton was glued to one end and they did have the potential to stretch this to 110 at least but they threw it away.
Meanwhile, after being put into bat by the Proteas, Bangladesh batting was an absolute disaster. It was a sorry looking scorecard for Bangladesh as they were bundled out for 84. Three batters got into double-figures and they were simply blown away due to express pace. Rabada started the rot, taking out Mohammad Naim, Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim, all within the batting powerplay. They simply didn't recover from the early damage - Nortje bounced out skipper Mahmudullah Riyad and Afif Hossain slogged his way into a dismissal. Mahedi Hasan shows some spunk, but was let down by the rest of the batters. He eventually fell in the final over. Pacer Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje scalped three wickets each as spinner Tabriz Shamsi grabbed two.
