Proteas beat Bangladesh by 52 runs in first Twenty20

DHAKA: Spinners Eddie Leie and Aaron Phangiso shared six wickets between them as South Africa thrashed Bangladesh by 31 runs in the second Twenty20 global to take the two-match series 2-0 here on Tuesday.

Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim and Nasir Hossain failed to perform in the game’s transition point as the trio were respectively out on the team’s same score at 82 runs, within four deliveries, from 11.4 overs to 12.2 overs.

Plessis was adjudged Player-of-the-Match. Since arriving in Dhaka the South African team, who are said to have their second-string pace attack at their disposal, have played a warm-up and an official T20 and on both occasions their opponents – BCB XI and Bangladesh – were bundled out below 100 runs.

Mashrafe praised the 46-run opening stand between Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar that saw them off to a decent start in their chase of South Africa’s 169/4. The left-arm spinner sent back JP Duminy also and South Africa continued losing wickets consistently to end up in a bad position. “We could have got 60-odd in those overs but that didn’t quite happen for us”, said the 31-year-old.

Sarkar, who scored 40, 34 and 54 against India, but could only manage seven in the first T20I against South Africa, added: “I think everyone, including myself, understands that I am getting out after getting set”.

De Villiers opened the innings for only the second time in his Twenty20 global career and conceded four dots before he picked up Mashrafee Mortaza at cover in the last ball of the over. We were fine in the first match but we gave away some twos, we had some overthrows.

Experienced Duminy then joined his skipper to share 36 runs for the third wicket before Sunny broke the stand. Shakib dismissed David Miller quickly to overtake Abdur Razzak as the leading Bangladeshi wicket-taker with 45.

Aaron Phangiso (right) registered figures of 3-30 as South Africa defeated Bangladesh by 31 runs in the second T20I in Mirpur. Kyle Abbott was particularly impressive and his skill at the death, specifically his ability to bowl yorkers, has been a breath of fresh air after an era of slower bouncers that so dominated the bowling arsenal of South Africa.

The Proteas posted 169/4 in their 20 overs.

“We looked at the statistics which showed that 150 is a par score for day games at this ground”, he said when asked if he thought 148 runs were enough.

Bangladesh’s Arafat Sunny grabbed two wickets.