Rabada finished with figures of 6-16 off eight overs
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa pace bowler Kagiso Rabada recorded the best bowling figures in ODI history by a debutant as he sliced through Bangladesh’s batting line-up to help the Proteas register a convincing eight-wicket win in Mirpur.
After Rabada wreaked havoc with the ball, Faf du Plessis did the same with the bat as he scored an unbeaten 63.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza would have been regretting his decision to bat first as all the batsmen, with the exception of Shakib Al Hasan, failed to have a major impact.
Al Hasan managed to make 48 off 51 balls, which included five boundaries, before he succumbed to the mounting pressure.
In the end, Bangladesh were bowled out for 160 as the next highest scorer after Al Hasan was Nasir Hossain, who mustered 31 runs.
Rabada was easily the pick of the bowlers with his six wickets, during which he became only the second bowler in ODI history to take a hat-trick on debut as he dismissed Tamim Iqbal, Litton Das and Mahmudullah one after another in the fourth over. Chris Morris meanwhile snapped up two wickets and Imran Tahir and Jean-Paul (JP) Duminy chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Chasing 161 to win, South Africa lost captain Hashim Amla for 14 and opener Quinton de Kock for 35 a short while later.
However, de Kock’s wicket was to be Bangladesh’s last piece of success for the rest of the match as du Plessis and Rilee Rossouw amassed an unbeaten 99-run partnership, during which du Plessis brought up his half-century, to lead South Africa to victory.
Du Plessis ended up making 63 off 75 balls, which included seven boundaries, while Rossouw remained undefeated on 45 off 53 deliveries, which included five boundaries and a six.
Du Plessis hit seven boundaries during his unbeaten knock of 63
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Hossain and Mortaza claimed one wicket each.
Mortaza was disappointed with his team’s performance, and said: “We could have scored at least 200, maybe 220, then it would have been a different game, but we kept losing wickets. If someone from the opposition gets a hat-trick, you go on the back foot. Wicket was pretty good, we can’t give that excuse and we need to come back strongly in the next match. Anyone would bat first here, we can’t make an excuse after batting and it was a good wicket to bat on. We just didn’t bat well.”
Amla lavished praise on Rabada for giving South Africa a 1-0 lead in the series, and said: “Kagiso was outstanding and to restrict them to 160 was wonderful. We’ve got wonderful players, we are very fortunate. Obviously we miss AB but we have players to rally around. Maybe we gave an extra few runs in the end but we batted pretty well.”
Rabada was named Man of the Match, and said: “It’s great to just do well for your team and put them in a good position and we won comfortably in the end. I didn’t know what to bowl when I was on hat-trick – maybe bouncer, then yorker but I missed it by a mile. It was a bit of a fluke, but I’ll take it. It’s important to keep the game simple, keep the batsmen guessing and hit good line and length and guess what the batsmen are trying to do. We have one of the best teams in the world and you’d be stupid to not be part of this team, we have a wonderful environment.”