SA vs BAN | 2nd ODI | Exciting final on cards as Proteas draw level with strong performance

Lightning does not strike twice at the same place. Bangladesh, after their historic first win against South Africa in the first match of the ODI series, submitted meekly at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday, 20 March.

South Africa barely broke any sweat on a fiesty track in the early hours of Sunday morning, putting up an exceptional display of pace bowling. Out of the nine wickets that fell in the Bangladesh innings, seven came off the pacers who terrorised the visitors’ top order with pace and bounce.

Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi extracted seam and bounce in their initial spell, course-correcting from their poor outing in the last game. Once Ngidi and Rabada were done with their early assault, Wayne Parnell picked up the prized wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim that had Bangladesh reeling at 34/4 in the 13th over. Bangladesh lost two more wickets failing to negotiate Rabada in his second spell and making bad choices of shots against Tabraiz Shamsi. It took a big revival act by youngsters Afif Hossain (72 off 107) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (38 off 49) to make sure Bangladesh at least had something on board.

180/6 in the 46th over, Kagiso Rabada’s intelligence took over once again, and the star pacer got two back to back wickets of set Hossain and Miraz with slower deliveries. Things could have been wrapped up earlier if catches would have stuck for SA, but they did fine, since Bangladesh were not able to cut loose, even against part-timer Temba Bavuma, who was forced to bowl six overs in the absence of an injured Wayne Parnell.

Chasing 195, it was never going to be a problem for the hosts, but Bangladesh did not quite expect the assault that was coming at them.

Quinton de Kock went on  a crazy assault, completing his half century in just 26 balls, alongside a patient Janneman Malan who was still finding his feet in this series. De Kock’s innings, studded with 9 fours and 2 sixes took the game away from Bangladesh in the first 15 overs as the batters put on 86 runs in their first wicket partnership. Bangladesh thought that they found a way into the game after two quick wickets of Malan (26 off 40) and de Kock (62 off 41), but an 82 run partnership from captain Temba Bavuma (37 off 52) and Kyle Verreynne made sure that SA did not slump.

Both batsmen were steady in their approach, but found their range against short balls aimed at them. While Bavuma was caught in the deep trying to slog sweep, young Verreynne stayed on to finish the game at 58* off 77 balls, chasing the target down in 37.2 overs, with seven wickets remaining.

This was a must win game for South Africa given the situation of the series, and they came up trumps firing in all departments. However, it is not all great going forward in the series, as they will have question marks over the fitness of three players.

Wayne Parnell has picked up a hamstring injury, which should put him out the contention for the next game and the verdict is still out on Lungi Ngidi, who bowled through pain for the most part of the innings, after damaging his knee and his ankle in the early overs of the game.

Temba Bavuma also had his fingers tightly plastered up, but looked good for his 37 off 52, managing to go aerial and put power behind his shots.

SA would hope that they continue their good work going into the final game of the series, while Bangladesh would hope that this was just a blip in their usual performance. The visiting team would be hoping for a weakened SA side which they can dominate with their attacking batters in the line up. The final game would be played in their favoured ground in SuperSport Park in Centurion, which should not have the extra bounce or pace that Wanderers offered.