CWC2023 : South Africa blow away Bangladesh after DeKock's masterclass & Klaasen blitzkrieg

Bangladesh continues to lose in the World Cup.  Shakib Al Hasan's team is looking increasingly vulnerable after starting with a win against Afghanistan in the first match.  After recovering from injury, Shakib could not save the game against South Africa.  Batting first, South Africa scored a mammoth 382 for 5 at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.  In reply, Bangladesh's innings ended with 233 runs in 46.4 overs.  South Africa won by 149 runs.  They came second in the points table.

 South African captain Aiden Markram won the toss and decided to bat first.  They scored big runs thanks to opener Quinton de Kock's aggressive hundred. Other openers Reza Hendricks (12) and number three Rassie van der Dussen (1) failed, but South Africa's run-rate never slowed down.  De Kock was joined by Markram at number four as they rescued South Africa from the loss of two early wickets with steady batting .

 De Cock scored three centuries in this World Cup.  A blistering innings of 174 runs off 140 balls came from his bat on Tuesday.  15 fours and 7 sixes came from his bat as dazzling strokeplay by DeKock  had the crowd up on its feet .   After Markram was dismissed for a polished 60 ,  Henrich  Klaassen at number five came out .  Markram's 69-ball innings of 60 runs came from his bat.  The captain of South Africa hit 7 fours in this match.  At one stage it looked as if DeKock will get his 200 but he was finally out at 174  .  Klassen too did not get a hundred by just  10 runs.  He played an explosive  innings of 90 runs off 49 balls with the help of 2 fours and 8 sixes.  Basically his aggressive batting took Bangladesh's  target out of reach.  In the end, David Miller's 15-ball unbeaten innings of 35 also increased the pressure on Shakib's team.  The South African batsmen scored 144 runs in the last 10 overs.

 None of the Bangladeshi bowlers could take advantage of Wankhede's 22 yards.  The most successful Hasan Mahmud got 2 wickets by spending 67 runs.  Mehdi Hasan Miraj took 1 wicket with 44 runs in 9 overs.  He is the most tight bowler of Bangladesh today.  Shakib took 1 wicket with 69 runs.  None of the Bangladeshi bowlers could perform well.

In reply Bangladesh struggled big time and never looked like having any chance of trying to overhaul the South African total. Litton Das, Tanjid Hasan, Nazmul Hossain Shanto could not take the pressure to bat for the target of 383 runs for victory.  They looked disoriented in front of the South African bowling attack.  Not even an attempt to make minimum resistance was seen in anyone.  Several batsmen are out after playing wrong shots.  The combined contribution of the first five batters of Bangladesh is 43 runs.  With the loss of 4 wickets for 42 runs, Shakib's hopes of victory were practically over.  Liton (22), Tanzeed (12), Shant (zero), Shakib (1), Mushfiqur Rahim (8), Miraj (11) could not stand on the wicket.  Mahmudullah Riyad tried to fight alone.  A fighting hundred came from his bat.  With this, Riyad made a century for the third time in the World Cup.  At the same time, he showed his teammates that there was no issue on the Mumbai wicket.  In the end he scored 111 runs off 111 balls.  Finished his responsible innings with 11 fours and 4 sixes.  Nasum Ahmed scored 19 runs off 19 balls.  Hasan Mahmud scored 15 runs.  11 runs came from the bat of Mustafizur Rahman.  Apart from Riyad, none of the cricketers of Bangladesh tried to understand the character of 22 yards.  Batting, bowling, fielding - they remained behind in all three categories of cricket.

 Gerald Coetzee is the most successful South African bowler.  He took 3 wickets with 62 runs.  2 wickets for 39 runs by Marco Jansen.  Lizard Williams took 2 wickets for 56 runs while Rabada took  2 wickets for 42 runs