By Razeen Gutta
South Africa successfully defended their lowest ever T20 score to beat Bangladesh in New York on Monday.
It was a déjà vu from Sunday’s India versus Pakistan spectacle as a seemingly easy run chase went haywire, courtesy of some fine second innings bowling.
The Proteas opted to bat first but lost four wickets in the powerplay as Hasan Sakib finished on 3/18 in his four overs.
Taskin Ahmed (2/19) supported him well while Mustafizur bowled wonderfully at the death to restrict the South Africans to 113/6 in their 20 overs.
Heinrich Klaasen’s 46 off 44 with the bat turned out to be a man of the match winning score on a difficult pitch for batting, as his teammates did wonderfully with the ball in another highly watchable run chase.
At 29/1 after the powerplay, Bangladesh looked composed enough to see through a first ever T20 win over SA.
It was not to be, though, with Keshav Maharaj stealing the show with three wickets for 27 plus a final over that went for just six runs.
A bit of fine fortune coupled with focus and determination means the Proteas are unbeaten in three games thus far.
Could they finally put their unlucky major tournament failures behind them to go the distance here? They surely are on track to do so as it stands.
Pictured above: Keshav Maharaj.
Source: @criccrazyjohns
