Bangladesh VS South Africa ODI Series
ICC ODI Championship League 
1st Match Played at Super Sports Park, Centurion On 18 March 2022
Bangladesh 314/7 (Shakib Al Hasan 77, Yasir Ali Rabbi 50, Litton K Das 50, Tamim Iqbal 41, Mahmudullah Riad 25, Mehedy Hasan Miraj 19* , Keshab Maharaj 2/56 , Marco Jansen 2/57) 
Beat 
South Africa 276 All Out In 48.5 Overs (Rassie van der Dussen 86, David Miller 79, Temba Bavuma 31, Mehedy Hasan Miraj 4/61, Taskin Ahmed 3/36, Shoriful Islam 2/ 47) by 38 Runs. 
Player of The Match: Shakib Al Hasan 

A stellar all round performance by tweeting tigers won a new front in South Africa. Bangladesh beat a very strong South African team by an impressive margin of 38 runs paying them back on own coin. 

Over the last 20 years Bangladesh never won even a single match in any format against South Africa in South Africa. In head-to-head contest in ODI South Africa won 17 matches out of 21. Off the 4 Bangladesh won 2 were in Bangladesh in 2015, two in the world Cup in 2007 and 2019. The win at Super Sports Park, Centurion heralded a new era of Bangladesh cricket. Tigers set their footprint in the land of the Protean. Put into bat all guns blazing Bangladesh produced mammoth 314/7. Striking deadly blows early on Bangladesh reduced South Africa to 36/3 within the first power play. 

South Africa did not left their occupied without fighting tooth and nail. Rassie van der Dussen (86 in 98 deliveries) and David Miller (79 in 57 balls) left nothing unturned. But chasing 315 after being reduced to 36/3 in 8.3 overs was always a tall order. Taskin (3/36) and Shoriful (2/47) rocked protea early on and Mehedy Miraj ran through the tail taking 4 for 61. Bangladesh looked completed changed from Midas touches of Alan Donald and Albi Morkel. Perhaps ABD gave them some tonic as well. 

In their last four games South Africa won there (white washing strong India) and lost one. Bangladesh won four of their last five games and lost one. The last time the two teams met at ICC World Cup 2019. Bangladesh shocked South Africa at the Oval, England by 21 runs. Star Bangladesh all rounder with glorious performance was the player of that match. Shakib’s inclusion at the last minute to tiger squad boosted them. 

Centurion Park with usually helps pacers early on. That perhaps encouraged Temba Bavuma opting to field after winning the toss. Bangladesh started cautiously against quality pace of IPL bound Rabada and Ngidi. Liton (50) and Tamim (41) set a solid platform of 97 in the opening partnership . But the game changer was fluent Shakib with typical classic 77 scored off 64 deliveries with 7 fours and three sixes. Why he said he was jaded having no motivation for playing international cricket? His fluency encouraged rookie Yasir (50) playing his natural strokes. The 4th wicket partnership of 134 took the match away up into the mountain peak, which South Africa could not assail. Riad (25) and Miraj (19*) also made useful handy contributions. Marco Jansen (2/57) and Keshav Maharaj (2/56) were the peak of Protea bowling. Rabada (1/57) and Ngidi (1/75) proved toothless on the day. 

Scaling such a run mountain required South African top order tweeting. But Taskin and Shoriful strking early blows floored them to 36/3 delivering knock-out punch. Rassie vander Dussen ( 86) and Temba Bavuma (31) tried resurrecting adding 85 in the 4th wicket partnership. Shoriful put paid to Bavuma effort. Rassie found another able partner in flamboyant David Miller (79). Their 70 runs 5th wicket partnership looked threatening. Back into the attack, Taskin removed Rassie at the right time. Still, Miller kept delivering counter punch before he too fell to match shaping spell of Miraj taking 4/61. South Africa managed reaching 276 all out. Bangladesh won huge and handsome by 38 runs. 

Bangladesh set its winning milestone after 20 runs efforts. A valuable 10 points in ICC ODI championship, a gateway to 2023 world cup and door opener for a series win against South Africa. In 22 matches it was 5th win for Bangladesh.

BDST: 1152 HRS, MAR 19, 2022
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