South Africa captain Faf Du Plessis smashed an unbeaten 79 to lead his side to a comfortable 52-run win over Bangladesh in the first T20 International on Sunday.
His knock steered South Africa to a fighting 148-4 and the bowlers followed up in a disciplined manner to wrap up the Bangladesh innings for 96 in 18.5 overs. Du Plessis’ knock was complimented by Rilee Rossouw’s 31 not out on slower pitch where batting was difficult.
Bangladesh used spinners from both ends at the beginning and reaped the rewards with the big wicket of AB de Villiers who ended up offering a simple catch at cover, trying to force a shot on a length delivery off left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny.
Inspired by de Villiers’ wicket in just the first over, Bangladesh came up with spirited effort, but was foiled by Du Plessis. He initially struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking over and was dropped on 18 by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim off left-arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman’s delivery.
Du Plessis made Bangladesh pay the price for the missed opportunity. On a slower pitch he batted sensibly and hit just eight fours in his 61-ball knock.
Shakib now is the highest run-getter and wicket-taker for Bangladesh in this format. South African fast bowlers Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada put the side in dominant position, removing openers-Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar in the first two overs.
Brief Scores
South Africa: 148/4 (Faf Du Plessis 79, Rilee Rossouw 31; Arafat Sunny 2/19) beat Bangladesh: 96 (Shakib Al Hasan 26, litton Das 22; Duminy 2/11, Rabada 2/28, Wiese 2/12) by 52 runs.