World Cup 2019: Three mistakes which cost South Africa the game
Bangladesh compounded the problems of South Africa by winning their match of the campaign by 21 runs. The Asian team has an opportunity to prove that they have come off age in this World Cup. After being invited to bat first on a batting-friendly pitch, Bangladesh got off to a flier via Soumya Sarkar who scored 42 off just 30 balls.
The experienced pair of Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan made full use of the platform laid by openers. The pair built a great partnership of 142 runs for the third wicket. South Africa came back into the game by picking some wickets in quick succession.
Mahmudullah played a brilliant innings in the death overs as Bangladesh posted a target of 331 for South Africa. The Proteas played well but losing wickets at regular intervals kept halting their progress. Eventually, they fell short of the target by 21 runs to lose their second match in a row in the tournament.
Let us look at a few mistakes which cost the match for the Proteas.
#1 Poor death bowling
After a brilliant partnership between Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh suffered a collapse. They lost both set batsmen quickly which meant that Bangladesh also lost momentum. At one stage, even reaching 300 seemed to be difficult for Bangladesh.
This is where South Africa should have bowled more tightly but they messed up. Mahmudullah launched an attack on the bowlers in the death overs and South African bowlers felt the pressure. Even experienced bowlers like Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris struggled to stop the onslaught in the death overs.
Mahmudullah scored 46 runs off 33 balls as he helped Bangladesh cross 300. The Asian team scored 54 runs in the last four overs which ultimately proved to be the difference between win and loss for them.
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