South Africa all but secured their place in the Super Eight quarter-final stage of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup after left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj held his nerve in the final over to clinch a four-run win against Bangladesh in New York on Monday.
Chasing a modest target of 114 in their Group D match on the unpredictable Nassau County Stadium pitch, Bangladesh came agonizingly close to their second win of the tournament but faltered in the final over, losing two wickets to Maharaj in their bid to cross the finish line.
Maharaj began the last over with a wide, followed by a single and a two, before dismissing Jaker Ali for eight, caught at long-on. A leg bye off the fourth ball kept the tension high, but Mahmudullah was also caught at long-on for 20 on the penultimate delivery. Needing six off the last ball, Taskin Ahmed could only manage a single, allowing South Africa to escape with their third consecutive win.
The standout bowler
Maharaj was the standout bowler for South Africa, finishing with three for 27 from his four overs. Frontline pacers Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada also played crucial roles, taking two wickets each and keeping the pressure on the Bangladeshi batsmen with spells of two for 17 and two for 19, respectively.
The victory places South Africa at the top of the five-team group table with six points, making them the only team to have completed three matches so far. Bangladesh, with two points from two matches, sit second due to a superior net run rate compared to the Netherlands, who also have two points from two matches. Nepal and Sri Lanka are fourth and fifth, respectively, with no points from their matches.
A T20 World Cup record 79-run, fifth-wicket stand between Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller rescued South Africa from a precarious position and enabled them to post 113 for six from their 20 overs. Klaasen top-scored with 46, earning him the Player-of-the-Match award, while Miller supported with 29. Their partnership helped South Africa recover from a top-order collapse triggered by pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib, who took three for 18 and had the Proteas reeling at 25 for four after the Power Play.
Challenging conditions
Reflecting on the challenging conditions, Klaasen said, “I think all the batters are keen to get out of this place, to be fair. The bowlers would love to stay here. But, no, we’ve done our job – that was the goal – to win three out of three (in the United States). Obviously, it was a little bit harder than we thought, but that’s also good preparation for going into the next phase of this competition.”
Bangladesh’s Towhid Hridoy, who top-scored with 37, expressed his disappointment at not finishing the match, saying, “We all know this is a slightly tricky (pitch). I think every match will be a low-scoring game. I think we have to adapt to the situation as soon as possible. We lost a lot of confidence [in chasing] that score… I should have finished the match. It’s difficult for new batsmen to adjust to the conditions.”
Group D continues with Nepal and Sri Lanka searching for their first win on Tuesday under the lights at the Broward County Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. Bangladesh will face the Netherlands in their next match on Thursday at the Arnos Vale Cricket Ground in St Vincent, while South Africa meets Nepal under the lights on Friday.
