Tag: Yasir Ali

Bangladesh on brink of history

“Everyone is aware of the standings and where we are and the importance of getting that automatic qualification.” – Kyle Verreynne on the World Cup Super League standings.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

HOW much would it mean to Bangladesh to win the third ODI against South Africa in Centurion on Wednesday? That’s difficult to say, because it’s impossible to overstate the impact victory would have for the game in their country.

Bangladesh have played 71 bilateral series across the formats away or in neutral countries. They’ve won only 10, and just four of those successes — all against West Indies — can be considered to have been achieved against serious opposition.

The only other teams Bangladesh beaten outside of their own backyard have been Zimbabwe, Kenya and Ireland. So getting over the line on Wednesday could be considered the apex of their history in the game at international level, which started almost 36 years ago.

What are their chances? Minimal, we might have thought before the first match of the rubber in Centurion on Friday — when they twice broke the record for their highest partnership in South Africa, put up 314/7, the only time they have made 250 or more in the country, and won by 38 runs.

The home side levelled matters on a difficult pitch at the Wanderers on Sunday, when they won by seven wickets. So the fact that the series will return to the scene of Bangladesh’s win for the decider can only be good news for the visitors.

That will be tempered by the fact that Quinton de Kock missed Friday’s game because he was recovering from illness but played on Sunday and promptly blitzed 62 off 41 balls. But, just as importantly, Bangladesh have retained the services of ace allrounder Shakib al Hasan — who has remained with the squad despite several members of his family having been admitted to hospital. 

Shakib will instead go home after Wednesday’s match, which is also when Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortjé, Marco Jansen, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram are due to leave to play in the IPL. None of those players will thus feature in the Test series that starts at Kingsmead next Thursday.

But that is another drama for another day. Wednesday’s tussle has its own narrative. It could be cast not only as Bangladesh’s moment of truth — and that of South Africa, who had never lost to the Tigers at home before Wednesday — but as a clash between the team on top of the World Cup Super League standings and the side currently in ninth place. Or one spot below where they need to be to qualify automatically for the 2023 World Cup. That Bangladesh are that No. 1 team and South Africa are, at this stage, frozen out of the direct route into the global showpiece is part of the intrigue of Wednesday’s game.

Bangladesh have proven they can compete with the South Africans in all departments and in their own conditions, and there’s no reason they won’t do so again. Litton Das, Shakib and Yasir Ali all scored half-centuries on Friday, and Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed revelled in the pace and bounce offered by a Highveld pitch and took five wickets at less than a run-a-ball between them. De Kock’s presence will likely equalise matters, and adds to the promise of a keen contest.

The odds nonetheless favour a South African win. They are, after all, at home and they have developed an unhelpful tendency to start series poorly before roaring back. But they will know the Bangladeshis will not go down without a fight. And especially not on the brink of a famous victory.

When: Wednesday, 1pm Local Time

Where: Centurion 

What to expect: A better pitch for batting than the roller-coaster we saw at the Wanderers on Friday. The forecast says there’s not much chance of rain, but you can never discount a late afternoon storm on the Highveld in summer. And more support in the ground for Bangladesh than for the home side.

Team news

South Africa: Temba Bavuma’s finger, which he injured trying to take a catch off his own bowling at the Wanderers, won’t keep him out of the decider. But Wayne Parnell, who injured a hamstring in the same match, is not in the reckoning.

Possible XI: Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock, Kyle Verreynne, Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi. 

Bangladesh: Expect the visitors to stick with the side who have taken them to within one win of their first successful series in any format in South Africa.

Possible XI: Tamim Iqbal (capt), Litton Das, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Yasir Ali, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.

What they said:

“I wouldn’t say we’ve had in-depth conversations about it, but everyone is aware of the standings and where we are and the importance of getting that automatic qualification. It’s not something we’ve spent a massive amount of time discussing. For us it’s about taking each game as it comes and making sure we’re in the best space possible for the game that’s ahead of us. We’ve still got a lot of games ahead, and I believe if we do that we’ll get the points we need to qualify. We know what we need to do.” – Kyle Verreynne on the World Cup Super League standings.

“Shakib is fine. Naturally something is on his mind but he is not showing it to anyone. That is a very positive sign. No-one is discussing it and everyone is letting him stay on his own. The good thing is that he is not letting anyone see he is going through a tough period.” – Bangladesh selector Habibul Bashar on Shakib al Hasan.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Bangladesh bash bumbling bowlers

“Not being able to take wickets was always going to make it tough for us. They always had an in batter who could take the risk when needed.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice | Cape Town

ON Friday’s evidence, South Africa might be able to do without their first-choice pace attack after all. The way they bowled in the first ODI against Bangladesh in Centurion suggested they aren’t all they’ve been cracked up to be. Perhaps, it will be whispered darkly up and down the land, the IPL is welcome to them.

Of course, cricket doesn’t work like that. Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen are, along with the currently sidelined Anrich Nortjé, South Africa’s best fast bowlers by some distance. That they fell prey to an off day can’t and won’t change that.

But their performance in this match will make their compatriots feel better — and perhaps even allow themselves a spiteful smile — about the sad fact that they will, according to one side of this saga, desert the national cause after this series to chase money in a meaningless jamboree in India, and so miss the coming Tests against Bangladesh. The other side of the story is that CSA will never be able to pay their best players what IPL franchise owners can and do. And who can say international cricket carries more meaning and gravitas than some T20 circus?

Not that you would have thought, early on, that things would pan out the way they did. Ngidi opened with a scoreless over to Tamim Iqbal, and Rabada’s first was going the same way until Litton Das took two off the last delivery. It wasn’t so much that South Africa’s new-ball pair looked threatening as much as Bangladesh’s openers, maybe mindful of facing them on a cracked Highveld pitch, bringing more caution than required to the situation.

But the last ball of Ngidi’s next over hinted at what was to come. Tamim unleashed a meaty cut that sailed over an unusually short square boundary for six. It was the first of 10 overs in which the sixth delivery was hit for four or six. In another five overs, the first ball was hammered for four. All of the seamers used — including Andile Phehlukwayo — were guilty of these lapses in focus and discipline, although Jansen assuaged himself by consistently threatening with short deliveries. Mostly, these errors were the result of faulty length, and on both ends of that equation. Of the 68 runs Bangladesh scored this way, 40 were hit off Ngidi.

And all that after the visitors didn’t reach a runrate of four until they had faced 19 overs. Despite this, they twice broke their record for the highest ODI partnership in South Africa. Tamim and Litton put on 95, Bangladesh’s best in South Africa until Shakib al Hasan and Yasir Ali clipped 115 off 82 balls for the fourth wicket. The first half of the visitors’ innings yielded 112 runs. The second went for 202. 

“The first 10 to 15 overs, we had a good sense of control over the game,” Temba Bavuma said afterwards. “In the middle overs, in terms of our plans and adapting to the conditions, I don’t think we were on point. Not being able to take wickets was always going to make it tough for us. They always had an in batter who could take the risk when needed.”

Worse yet, that Bavuma’s team were in the field for 29 minutes longer than they should have been may come back to bite them. “When you’re behind the over-rate, that’s an indicator of your intensity,” he said. “If we are guilty of being behind, that’s also something we’ll need to talk about.”

And a lot more besides. But not as much as Bangladesh’s fans, who will talk about Friday’s game for decades to come, and so they should. If a finely tailored suit could wield the willow, it would bat like Shakib did in his breathtaking 77 — all sharp angles and silky skills, and a level of poise ripped from the runway. Yasir’s 50 was cut from a different cloth, a thing of warmth and comfort; a favourite pair of jeans. Together they ensured Bangladesh went to dinner impeccably dressed with a total of 314/7, the first time in 15 ODIs in South Africa that they have made 250 or more.

Would their bowlers be able to match that kind of style? In a word, yes. Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed handed down a masterclass in how to hit the right length and keep the batters guessing on a surface like this — which was not quick, but primed with bounce that was occasionally variable. 

South Africa had their best chance of getting out of jail while Rassie van der Dussen was at the crease. He took guard at 36/3 in the ninth over, and with three slips bristling behind his back. But Van der Dussen is made of stern stuff, and he added 85 with Bavuma and 70 — off 64 — with David Miller. There is a certainty about Van der Dussen’s batting, a rock solid faith that anything can be done, and that could make believers out of even the most atheist among us. If only, South Africans will muse, cricket was as simple as religion.

Hold the miracles. Van der Dussen fell for 86 by way of Yasir’s heart-stopping catch at deep backward squad off Taskin, and Miller was stumped, coming down the pitch to Mehidy Hasan, for 79. 

That reduced South Africa to 242/9, sealing their fate. But there were 4.3 overs to bowl at that point, and in the stands and on the grass banks the gathered hundreds of jubilant Bangladeshi supporters — far outnumbering the home side’s — no doubt wished there was exponentially more time left in the match. Their team’s impending first ODI win in South Africa, and only their second success in the country in any format in 29 matches, was too special a moment to be taken from them so soon. There was more weirdness where that came from, what with Russell Domingo and Allan Donald celebrating in the wrong dressing room.

Make that the other dressing room. Because, by any measure and nevermind who is going where after the series, the right team won.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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