The competition in Group B gets wide open as SA beats BAN, ZIM upsets PAK to set the race

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South Africa 205 for 5 (Rossouw 109, de Kock 63, Shakib 2-33) beat Bangladesh 101 (Litton 34, Nortje 4-10, Shamsi 3-20) by 104 runs

South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat first while Rilee Rossouw struck the first century of this T20 World Cup to give South Africa a dominating 104-run win against Bangladesh at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat first. Temba Bavuma’s first-over dismissal was a surprise in disguise for South Africa. Rossouw and de Kock tore into the Bangladesh attack, taking 21 off Taskin Ahmed’s second over. 

It was de Kock who was the attacker at that stage, but Rossouw immediately took over with three sixes and a four in the next two overs. South Africa had to endure a 22-minute rain break during the Powerplay, but that was the only respite for Bangladesh.

Rossouw struck six of his eight sixes between long-on and wide long-on as he scored 57 runs off 19 balls while hitting in that zone. He struck his other two sixes through backward square-leg, while his seven fours were spread around a little more freely. 

De Kock struck a large portion of his fours through point and third-man, using the reverse sweep and cut shot to extraordinary impact. He struck his three sixes through midwicket mostly.

After adding 91 runs in the first ten overs, Rossouw and de Kock scored 80 runs in the next five overs. Shakib al hasan went for 21 in his first over, and later included five penalty runs when wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan was declared to have illegally moved behind in the last ball of his over. 

When Taskin yielded 23 in the 14th over, including Mahmud dropping Rossouw on 89, it seemed South Africa would get some unbelievable total.

But Mahmud himself drove Bangladesh’s fightback, as South Africa scored only 29 runs in the last five overs. The bowlers offered only a four and a six in this crucial period, with Mahmud giving away just 12 runs in two of the last three overs. 

Shakib too recovered from the initial shellacking, as he removed Rossouw in the 19th over, giving away just four runs.

Bangladesh got off to a shocking quick start when Soumya Sarkar smashed two sixes off Kagiso Rabada in the first over. However, that was all of Bangladesh’s aggression in this innings, as Nortje blew them away in his first two overs.

All he did was keep it fast and full, enough for Soumya and Najmul Hossain Shanto to fail to connect. Shakib fell lbw in Nortje’s next over, even though he was unlucky as the ball had pitched outside leg-stump. 

Shakib however didn’t take the review. Rabada made it a very good Powerplay for South Africa when he got Afif Hossain to be caught at mid-off in the sixth over.

South Africa’s possible flaw was when Tristan Stubbs dropped Litton Das on 17, probably the sun directly towards the square-leg boundary having an impact in his drop. But then the South African spinners took over. 

Shamsi, who was picked for the first time in the tournament, removed Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nurul Hasan, and Litton Das, all trapped in the deep on-side boundaries, in three consecutive overs. In between, Keshav Maharaj had Mosaddek Hossain stumped in the 11th over.

Nortje wrapped up with his best T20I figures of 4-10, while Tabraiz Shamsi took three wickets. Getting bowled out for 101, it is now Bangladesh’s biggest loss in this format.

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