Bangladesh’s cricket witnessed another glorious success on Wednesday as the Tigers comprehensively beat South Africa by 9 wickets in the third ODI in Centurion and they created history by winning the series 2-1 for the first time.
Taskin Ahmed is both the Player of the Match and the Player of the Series.
Expressing his joy, Taskin said, “Feeling happy and proud. This is the first time for me getting the Player of the Series award.”
Before this tour, Tigers had not even won an ODI in South Africa and now they have gone onto win the ODI series, which is outstanding to say the least.
Bangladesh created history and registered their first-ever ODI series win on South Africa. What a sweet, sweet achievement for Bangladesh! The visitors have been clinical in this series decider. Barring the first hour of the match, nothing clicked for South Africa. Electing to bat first, the Proteas got off to a quick start, but once the opening partnership was broken, they fell down like nine pins. Taskin Ahmed bowled a magnificent spell as he claimed five wickets to bundle out South Africa to a paltry score of 154.
The Bangladesh openers came out all guns blazing in the run chase with Tamim Iqbal taking charge and playing a captain's innings and remained unbeaten at 82-ball 87. He kept dealing in boundaries and Liton kept farming the strike from the other end. In the process, Tamim notched up his 52nd ODI fifty as Bangladesh finished off the chase within 26.3 overs.
Earlier, things were very different when South Africa started off with the bat. Malan and de Kock began in style and it was looking so good for the hosts. But de Kock holed out and that set in motion a regular fall of wickets with Taskin taking a five-fer. He ran in and banged the ball into the pitch and utilised the variable bounce on offer at the SuperSport Park in Centurion to full effect. Whenever Tamin opted for a bowling change, he was immediately rewarded with a wicket. Good bowling, a few questionable shots and the pitch doing the rest all have paved way for South Africa's miserable total of 154 all out.
