India and Pakistan may have struggled in their respective ODI series against Bangladesh at home, both the Asian giants losing to their not-so-fancied opponents. But, South Africa, in spite of playing a weak side had it easy against the hosts in their first one-dayer at Mirpur. In fact, they even found a new hero in Kagiso Rabada, who created a new record by finishing with the best figures by a debutant in ODIs. Thanks to Rabada, South Africa managed to keep Bangladesh down to 160, and easily won the first match.
Of course, Rabada was the standout performer for South Africa in the opening ODI, and while they will not be expecting another spectacular effort from him, they would be pleased if Rabada is half as good in his second match. Of course, a repeat should not be ruled out. After all, it was only recently that Mustafizur Rahman claimed two five-fors in his first two matches, against the hapless looking Indian batsmen. Rabada should seek inspiration from Rahman’s effort in his first two games, as the Proteas look to seal the series in style against the Bangladesh side.
South Africa, at the same time, would want better showings from their other bowlers. Kyle Abbott struggled even as Rabada was claiming wicket after wicket at the other end. Chris Morris claimed a couple of wickets, but was expensive as well. The spin duo of Imran Tahir and JP Duminy also could not make much of an impression. In the batting department, Faf du Plessis and Rilee Rossouw had it easy as South Africa were defending a small target. At the same time, they would have liked Quinton de Kock to carry on after getting a start. Hashim Amla also had a rare failure.
Shifting focus to Bangladesh, they will need to show significant improvement in their series if they want to stay alive, and take the series into the decider. Only four Bangladesh batsmen managed to reach double figures, but none of them carried on to cross a half-century. The trio of Tamim Iqbal, Litton Das and Mahmudullah all got ducks, and as a result Bangladesh found themselves in deep trouble. Bangladesh would take solace from the fact that such an occurrence is not likely to take place again. Still, they would be keen to put up a much-improved showing.
Bangladesh would also need to make sure that the batsmen who get starts carry on. Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim all got their eye in, but eventually gave their wickets away. In the bowling, apart from Mustafizur, no one really made much of an impression. Nasir Hossain was economical. But, in the end, it would be unfair to blame the bowlers as the batsmen did not give them a lot to bowl at.
--By A Cricket Analyst
