T20IWC : South Africa survive Bangla scare to win a thriller by 4 runs , Scotland outplay Oman

 

The day after India-Pakistan game, New York witnessed another exciting match.  South Africa lost to Bangladesh in dramatic circumstances in the last over.  It is good to say, they had to lose by an inch.  Shakib Al Hasan's team lost by 4 runs.  They could not score even 11 runs in the last over.  The reflection of Sunday's India-Pakistan match was seen in this day's match.

  Mahmudullah cannot easily forget the fifth ball of the 20th over.  He hit Keshav Maharaj's full toss ball.  But the bat-ball connection was not right.  Yet it almost passed the big field in New York.  Aden Markram caught the ball with two hands from the edge of the long on boundary.  Bangladesh's dream of victory ended there.  Markram's leg was an inch away from the boundary rope.

South Africa and Bangladesh played in less than 24 hours on the same pitch where the India-Pakistan match was played on Sunday.  No one could have imagined that the character of the pitch would change overnight.  

India lost the toss and had to bat first.  On this day, South Africa won the toss and faced disaster with batting.  Well bowled Tanjim Hasan.  He single-handedly destroyed South Africa's batting department.  He sent Hendricks back in the first over trapped lbw .  Quinton de Kock (18) returned in the third over .  Aiden Markram (4) and Tristan Stubbs (0) returned one by one and the Proteas were in huge trouble.

 Rishabh Pant and Akshar Patel took the lead for India on Sunday.  South Africa's saviors on the day were Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller.  They kept a cool head under pressure and batted.  Klaassen, who batted wildly in the IPL, also batted strangely.  He did not seem to take risks.  So was Miller on the opposite side.  Under pressure, they teamed up and managed to arrest the collapse.

Klaasen returned in the 18th over off Taskin Ahmed.  He scored a superb 46 runs off 44 balls.  South Africa also lost Miller (29 off 38 balls) in the next over.  Marco Janssen and Keshav Maharaj could not increase the run rate towards the end.  South Africa made only 113-6 in 20 overs.

 Bangladesh also did not start well.  After Jansen conceded 1 run in the first over, Tanjid Hasan hit Kagiso Rabada for two consecutive fours at the start of the second over.  He was dismissed by Rabada in that over.  After that, the Bangladeshi batters continued to come and go to the dressing room.  Nazmul Hossain (14), Liton Das (9), Shakib Al Hasan (3) went back in succession as Nortje bowled at sharp pace to get 2 wickets.  

From there, Touhid Hriday and Mahmudullah formed a pair.  The duo put on 44 runs for the fifth wicket.  But both the batsmen had to play slowly.  As a result, the asking rate increased for a while.  After the return of Touhid (37) in the first ball of the 18th over, the pressure increased for Bangladesh.

 Mahmudullah was still on the wicket.  Hope was alive in Bangladesh.  Asking rates were still under control.  Markram finished the over before all three pacers.  As a result, Maharaj had to come forward to complete the last over.  In this situation, the spinner's bowling is easier compared to the game.  Only 11 runs were needed to win.  But Mahmudullah (20) did not get a chance to bat that way.  He took a run on the second ball of the last over.  After that he was out on the fifth ball.  If he had a chance to play two more balls, he might have finished the match.   South Africa managed to get 2 points after a match that they could have lost . Klaasen for his classy 46 was the player of the match .

Earlier,  Scotland  brightened their hopes of a top two finish with a convincing win by 7 wickets over Oman . Batting first Oman managed 150/7 with bright contributions from Athawale (54) and Ayan Khan (41) . In reply Scotland raced to the target in just 13 overs after a steady start by Munsey (41) but it was Brendon McMullen who expedited the win with a belligerent  61 in just 31 balls .