DHAKA: Very strong South African Cricket team will arrive in Dhaka Tuesday afternoon for playing a full series (two T20s, three ODIs and two Test matches) against rising Bangladesh who are playing a fearless and aggressive brand of cricket.

Expectations of Bangladeshis are sky rocketing after bright showing by the tigers in ICC World Cup 2015 followed by ODI series win against Pakistan (3-0) and India ( 2-1). But South Africans are not Pakistan and not even India. Bangladesh will do very well if they can compete well against them playing to their potentials.

Different persons may view it differently. In professional sports at the highest level the teams performing on the day wins. Top teams of the world are more consistent than the lesser teams. But occasionally top teams at times also explode and lesser teams availing those opportunities create upset.

We are sure the knowledgeable cricket enthusiasts and admirers of Bangladesh cricket will readily agree with me that South Africa on paper in actual is far superior side than Bangladesh across all formats of the game. Though 2015 is excellent for Bangladesh in ODI there is no reason to believe that it will be at all easy even winning even one match against them in any format.

By saying that please do not misunderstand us. We are very much aware that Mashrafe-led Bangladesh team now is a fearless unit and playing aggressive quality cricket. They are capable enough of beating any side of the world on their day at least in ODI format.

Bangladesh managed to win only one ODI, in 2007 WORLD CUP, and one T20 match against South Africa in a triangular series involving Zimbabwe.

In 2015, Bangladesh has won 8 of the 12 ODI matches they played. They lost three (twice against India and once against New Zealand) and one match against Australia in the world cup was rained out. Of the last 11 matches they played at home they won 10.

There is no semblance of doubt that this Bangladesh team is more consistent, more confident of their own ability. It is a perfect blend of seasoned senior professionals (Mashrafe, Mushfiqur, Shakib, Tamim, Mahmudullah, Kayes and Nasir) and top quality emerging genius like Mustafiz, Soumya, Sabbir, Jubair, and Litton. Several other quality youngsters are in the pipeline. No teams even Australia and South Africa can afford to take them lightly.

But in a series preview obviously the past records needs to be reflected upon.

T20 Head to Head:

Bangladesh ranks ninth in ICC T20 ranking with 77 points, while South Africa stands at sixth with 110 points. Some of their top players play regularly in IPL franchise and perform. In case Bangladesh manages to surprise South Africa winning both T20 the rating will improve to 93 and SA will go down to eighth position. If other way round Bangladesh rating will be lowered to 73 with only two points clear of Scotland.

South African Team for T20: Faf du Plessis (C), Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, David Miller, David Wiese, Chris Morris, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada, Aaron Phangiso, Eddie Leie, Wayne Parnell, Beuran Hendricks

ODI Records:

South Africa with 112 ratings in the fourth position while Bangladesh with 93 is at seventh position. West Indies with 88 and Pakistan with 87 are trailing Bangladesh. Bangladesh with 2-1 against India has almost secured its berth for 2017 ICC Champions trophy. We do not anticipate West Indies and Pakistan can both overtake Bangladesh by September 30, 2015.

Rather the prospect of Bangladesh winning at least one ODI against South Africa and cementing their berth is much brighter. Pakistan has to win the ensuing ODI series against Sri Lanka (seems very unlikely) and win the hurriedly arranged triangular series in Zimbabwe involving West Indies.

The teams have so far played 14 ODIs. South Africa won 13 and Bangladesh 1. Bangladesh lost all home ODIs against South Africa. The new look Bangladesh with their fresh momentum of winning back to back series win against two sub-continental giants have opportunities of improving their records in ODIs against South Africa.

The recent success against India was in a way from relying on four prong pace attack. People have a notion that South Africans have weakness against quality spinners on slow turning tracks. But the consistent successes of AB de Villiers, David Miller, JP Duminy in IPL and presence of master batsman Hashim Amla in the side may prove this notion wrong.

Mustafiz, Taskin, Mashrafe and Rubel may still surprise South Africa in T20 and ODI. Shakib, Nasir and Mahmudullah are good enough options for the spin. If the wicket has pace and bounce Jubair can be an option for the ODI series.

But ODI success will largely depend on how Bangladesh batsmen play against South African pace battery although Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander won’t be there in ODIs.

South African Team: AB de Villiers (C), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, JP Duminy, David Miller, Farhaan Behardien, Chris Morris, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Abbott, Aaron Phangiso, Wayne Parnell, Ryan McLaren

Test Records:

South Africa is the top ranked team with 130 rating. Bangladesh ranks ninth with 41. Bangladesh also don’t have good memories against South Africa when it comes to Tests. The two teams have met eight times in this format and South Africa won all eight of them. Seven of those eight wins were innings victories. Bangladesh needs to improve a lot to even compete against South Africa.

South African batsmen have, to their credit, two over 400 runs partnership records against Bangladesh in tests. Boeta Dippenaar and Jacques Rudolph shared an unbeaten 429-run stand for the third wicket in Chittagong in 2003. The second instance was also in Chittagong; in 2008 when Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith shared a world record setting 415-run stand for the opening wicket in 2008.

South Africa Test Squad: Hashim Amla (C), Dean Elgar, Reeza Hendricks, Faf du Plessis, Stiaan van Zyl, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Aaron Phangiso, Simon Harmer, Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada and Dane Vilas

Bangladesh need to have a wicket taking bowling combination with at least two quality pace bowlers from among Rubel, Al Amin, Shahid, Rabiul and Shafiul and definitely with Jubair alongside  Shakib and Taizul.  We would even suggest to try Mustafiz in short spells.

Bangladesh cannot survive five days of the tests and play out for a draw even if they field nine batsmen and several bits and pieces bowlers on whatever wickets they prepare. Better would be preparing sporting wickets and letting the test team mature. We have now good batting resources to bat well on any surface. So why not let our bowlers also benefit on sporting wickets against top test playing team?

Bangladesh, for its prospects, must think rationally and play positively. Against a very strong team like South Africa Bangladesh has nothing to lose but lot to gain to move forward. Expectation may not be sky high.

BDST: 1000 HRS, JUN 30, 2015
SR