Abu Dhabi (UAE): A blistering spell from Kagiso Rabada set South Africa up for a convincing six-wicket victory over Bangladesh.
Rabada took three wickets in his opening spell and Bangladesh never recovered as the Proteas kept their charge for a semi-final place on track at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
With this win, South Africa have three wins from four matches ahead of a clash with Group 1 leaders England, with Australia their most likely challengers in the battle for the last four.
Rabada finished with figures of three for 20, his best showing in T20 internationals, while Anrich Nortje took three for eight as Bangladesh were bundled out for just 84.
South Africa had no trouble chasing that down, with skipper Temba Bavuma leading from the front in making an unbeaten 31 to take his side home.
Bangladesh, deprived of the injured Shakib Al Hasan, chose to leave out Mustafizur Rahman and replace him with all-rounder Shamim Hossain.
At the top of the order Mohammad Naim and Liton Das made a promising start but in the fourth over, Rabada changed the complexion of the game. Naim pulled the bowler straight to midwicket to go for nine, and next ball he was followed back to the hutch by Soumya Sarkar, trapped in front by a searing inswinger.
Mushfiqur survived the hat-trick ball two overs later but did not trouble the scorers as he edged to slip and Reeza Hendricks held on after juggling the ball.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 84 all out, in 18.2 overs (Mahedi Hasan 27, Liton Das 24; Anrich Nortje 3/8, Kagiso Rabada 3/20)
South Africa 86/4, in 13.3 overs (Temba Bavuma 31 not out, Rassie van der Dussen 22; Taskin Ahmed 2/18, Mahedi Hasan 1/19)
