SHAKIB AL HASAN STEERS BANGLADESH TO UNFORGETABLE WIN

Bangladesh celebrate their dominant win over South Africa

Not a lot of experts saw this result coming, although they expected Bangladesh to take this game all the way down. As it turns out, they became the first Asian side to win a game this World Cup and they did it some style. They handed South Africa their second consecutive defeat, which leaves them in a horrible position.

There were some concerns regarding Tamim Iqbal’s fitness, but he somehow managed to make it to the XI. He didn’t look very comfortable in the middle though as he just assisted Soumya Sarkar, who gave Bangladesh a good start against the new ball. The duo added 60 runs inside 9 overs before Tamim was dismissed.

Sarkar too fell just short of a half-century, which saw their two most experienced batsmen Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan in the middle. They played no catch-up cricket, instead they mixed caution with aggression brilliantly to take the side into a stupendously dominant position. The Proteas completely got blown away in the middle overs.

Their scoring rate was consistently above 6 and were clearly eyeing a total in excess of 350. The pair completed their individual half-centuries and also added 142 runs for the third wicket. Their partnership came to a close with Shakib getting dismissed for 75 and Mahmudullah took over the show. Even after Mushfiqur’s dismissal, he kept hammering the bowlers alongside the lower middle order.

Mahmudullah chipped in with a 33-ball 46 as the Tigers raised a mammoth 330 runs batting first, posing a very serious challenge. Phehlukwayo, Tahir and Morris picked up a brace each for the Proteas.

With Hashim Amla missing out, Markram and Quinton de Kock opened the innings for the Proteas. They worked out a decent opening stand and although the new ball bowling was brilliant, they piled up 49 runs for the first wicket. Their partnership ended on a catastrophic note with a horrendous miscommunication leading to De Kock’s dismissal.

Faf du Plessis displayed another brilliant batting performance and threatened to take the game away in no time. He added 52 runs with the young opener. Markram was closing in on a half-century before Shakib’s masterclass got the better of him. Faf took complete charge in the partnership with Miller and completed his first fifty of the tournament.

He too, unfortunately, fell in the spin trap, but this time it was Mehidy Hasan. After that, Rassie van der Dussen provided some momentum to the run chase alongside Miller, but the duo fell in quick succession and there was a mountain left for the Proteas to climb in the last 10 overs.

Duminy kept losing partners and Mustafizur Rahman was not making life easy for him. He kept battling till the end although the odds were in favour of the Tigers heading into the final 4 overs. Yet, once Duminy was dismissed in the 48th over, the result was just a formality.

THE STAR

Shakib Al Hasan proved why he not only was our player to watch, but the number 1 all rounder in ODI cricket

Shakib Al Hasan starred with both bat and ball, combing with Mushfiqur Rahim for a 142 run 3rd wicket stand, scoring 75 off just 84 balls himself. He then was one of the Bangladeshi's best with ball in hand, certainly one of their most economic finishing with 1 for 50 off his 10 overs. THE MOMENT

Bangladesh celebrate the wicket of JP Duminy

Despite scoring 330, it took 47.1 overs before the Bangladeshi's could ever breathe a sigh of relief. Bowling to JP Duminy, Mustafizur Rahman bowled an excellently excuted slower ball bouncer which JP Duminy dragged on to his stumps. With that dismissal, all hopes for South Africa were dashed. THE FAILURE

Captain Faf du Plessis talks with his injured bowler while searching for answers

Faf du Plessis is the man who will ultimately take the fall for South Africa's perfomances in this years World Cup should they not be able to turn it around. And after his brilliance in the first game to open the bowling with Imran Tahir, du Plessis failed to make the correct calls throughout to limit the damage of the Bangladeshi batsman. Both Chris Morris and Aiden Markram went at over seven an over, failure to stem the flow of runs falls onto the skipper. WHAT NEXT - It is relentless for the South African's who are due to face the might of India on Wednesday, whilst Bangladesh get to test themselves against arguably the most dominant of the sides to play so far in New Zealand. TONIGHT - Hosts England take on Pakistan at Trent Bridge.