South Africa beat Bangladesh by four runs in a T20 World Cup thriller at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium last night.
Scoring only 113/6 after opting to bat first, SA’s bowlers pulled their team out of the fire to restrict the Tigers to just 109/7 and all but secure their place in the Super 8s after three wins from as many outings.
Needing 11 runs off the final over of the match with five wickets in hand, Keshav Maharaj (3/27) gave Bangladesh the inside lane when he bowled a wide with the first ball.
The South African spinner, bowling the final over for the first time in his T20 career, took some tap earlier on, but then showed great composure as he got the wicket of Jaker Ali (8).
⚡️Congratulations to Keshav Maharaj who recorded his career best T20I bowling figures in yesterday’s win over Bangladesh.
Bowling Kesh 🪄 | #SAvBAN #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #OutOfThisWorld #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Q1vZlz5vQI
When Mahmudullah (20) smashed the second-last ball for what he thought was the winning six, Aiden Markram pulled off a stunning catch on the boundary to leave Bangladesh needing six off the last ball. Maharaj denied them.
But up to that point, it wasn’t SA’s game at all after Markram won the toss and decided to bat first on a tough batting turf.
The decision bombed almost from the first ball as their top order crashed to 23/4 in five overs.
Reeza Hendricks (0), Quinton de Kock (18), Markam (4) and Tristan Stubbs (0) all failed.
That’s when Heinrich Klaasen (46 off 44 balls) and David Miller (29 off 38) joined forces to share a national record fifth-wicket stand of 79 runs.
Tanzim Sakib took 3/18 for Bangladesh.
Man of the Match. 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🇧![CDATA[]]>🇩 | #SAvBAN
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) June 11, 2024
Heinrich Klaasen was named POTM following a crucial knock in our thrilling win over Bangladesh in NYC on Monday.
Credit: ICC/ Getty #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #OutOfThisWorld #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/H4v1CXXrq6