ABU DHABI: Pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada stood out with figures of 3-20 to help South Africa boost their semi-final hopes at the Twenty20 World Cup with a six-wicket win over Bangladesh here at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Rabada and fellow quick Anrich Nortje shared six wickets between them to skittle out Bangladesh for just 84 in 18.2 overs in Abu Dhabi.

South Africa lost four wickets but skipper Temba Bavuma hit an unbeaten 31 and steered the team home in 13.3 overs for the third win from four Super 12 matches.

Taskin Ahmed returned figures of 2-18 but Bangladesh bowed out of the race for the final four after losing all their four matches. Rabada came all guns blazing after South Africa elected to field first and sent back Mohammed Naim, for nine, and Soumya Sarkar, for nought, to be on a hat-trick.

Mushfiqur Rahim denied Rabada his third successive wicket on the first ball of his next over but got out three deliveries later without scoring.

Bangladesh suffered another double blow when Nortje claimed skipper Mahmudullah Riyad’s prized scalp for three and Afif Hossain fell to Dwaine Pretorius for a duck.

Also read: South Africa's De Kock apologises, says will take a knee in future

Bangladesh slipped to 34-5 and the wickets kept tumbling with Nortje and leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi sharing five wickets between them as South Africa wrapped up the Bangladesh innings in 18.2 overs.

Mahedi Hasan top-scored with 27 before being caught and bowled by Nortje.

In reply, South Africa fell to 33-3 after Aiden Markam was dismissed for nought by Taskin but Rassie van der Dussen, who made 22, and Bavuma put the chase back on track.

The pair put on 47 runs for the fourth wicket before Nasum Ahmed got van der Dussen out.

David Miller came to hit the winning boundary as South Africa made it three wins in a row after their opening loss to Australia who are third in the table led by unbeaten England.

England, with four wins from four, are virtually assured of a place in the semi-finals leaving South Africa and Australia as the main contenders for second place in the group.

Meanwhile, Kagiso hailed South Africa’s convincing win over Bangladesh.

“What we have shown is that we have had different individuals stand up in different games and I think that’s been the key, we are performing as a team. Glad we convincingly won today,” said Rabada.

“If I can contribute to the team success I’ll take it, even if I am not taking wickets,” said Rabada.“But on a personal note, it’s good to take wickets especially up front in the powerplay making inroads, that’s what we strive to do.

“I am chuffed, but I am certainly not going to think about cricket tomorrow until we have to train again, but when the time comes we will regroup and strategise for England [on Saturday]. And it is going to be a good game,” the pacer added.

Mahmudullah expressed his disappointment at the results Bangladesh have produced so far in the event.

“It’s frustrating, but we could have won two games,” Mahmudullah said of his team’s losses including two close matches against Sri Lanka and West Indies. “If we had won those games, it would have been a different story.”

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are now definitely out of the equation in Group 1 with West Indies only left with a slim chance of progress.

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH:

Mohammad Naim c Hendricks b Rabada 9

Liton Das lbw b Shamsi 24

Soumya Sarkar lbw b Rabada 0

Mushfiqur Rahim c Hendricks b Rabada 0

Mahmudullah Riyad c Markram b Nortje 3

Afif Hossain b Pretorius 0

Shamim Hossain c Maharaj b Shamsi 11

Mahedi Hasan c and b Nortje 27

Taskin Ahmed run out (Bavuma) 3

Nasum Ahmed hit wicket b Nortje 0

Shoriful Islam not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-2, W-4) 7

TOTAL (all out, 18.2 overs) 84

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-22 (Naim), 2-22 (Soumya), 3-24 (Mushfiqur), 4-34 (Mahmudullah), 5-34 (Afif), 6-45 (Liton), 7-64 (Shamim), 8-77 (Taskin), 9-84 (Mahedi)

BOWLING: Maharaj 4-0-23-0; Rabada

4-0-20-3 (2nb, 3w); Nortje 3.2-0-8-3 (1w); Pretorius 3-0-11-1; Shamsi 4-0-21-2

SOUTH AFRICA:

Q. de Kock b Mahedi 16

R. Hendricks lbw b Taskin 4

R. van der Dussen c Shoriful b Nasum 22

A. Markram c Naim b Taskin 0

T. Bavuma not out 31

D. Miller not out 5

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-1, W-3) 8

TOTAL (for four wickets, 13.3 overs) 86

DID NOT BAT: D. Pretorius, K. Rabada, K. Maharaj, A. Nortje, T. Shamsi

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6 (Hendrick), 2-28 (de Kock), 3-33 (Markram), 4-80 (van der Dussen)

BOWLING: Taskin 4-0-18-2 (1w); Shoriful 4-0-15-0 (1w); Mahedi 2.3-0-19-1; Nasum 2-0-22-1 (1w); Soumya 1-0-7-0

RESULT: South Africa won by six wickets.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Kagiso Rabada

UMPIRES: Paul Reiffel (Australia), Richard Illingworth (England)

TV UMPIRE: Chris Brown (New Zealand)

MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2021