South Africa were confident of earning a win against Bangladesh in the opening Twenty20 international despite putting 148 runs as condition favoured them more than their opposition, said batsman Rilee Rossouw on Sunday. South Africa folded Bangladesh for a meagre 96 runs to record a crushing 52-runs after posting a modest 148-4 on a slow pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
In an era of swashbuckling batting, the score seemed very inadequate against any opposition but Rossouw said they had no doubts in their minds that this was a winning score.
‘First of all, we looked at the statistics and found 150 is a very good score on this ground on day games,’ Rossouw told reporters after the match at the SBNS.
‘So we thought we had a very good chance of winning today, especially the way the ball was turning and going a little bit slow toward the end of the second innings.
‘It favoured us a little bit and we bowled really well and came out on top,’ he said.
Rossouw, who contributed with an unbeaten 31 off 21 balls, said that their belief started to grow stronger when they went to the field trying to restrict their opposition and immediately noticed that the ball was turning more.
Sakib al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim looked to take the match away from the visitors when they put 37 runs for the third wicket before JP Duminy turned the tide in his successive overs.
‘Lucky for us we bowled second innings and it favoured us a little bit more. We had the advantage of bowling the second innings as the balls turned a little bit more than the first innings,’ said Rossouw.
Rossouw accompanied skipper Faf du Plessis in an unbroken 58-run fifth-wicket stand, which South African Twenty20 captain in the prize giving ceremony said was a match-winning partnership.
Du Plessis struck 79 off 61 balls to anchor the innings after South Africa made a shaky start. Rossouw showered his captain with praise saying it had helped them stay in the game after South Africa lost the wicket of AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock sooner than they had expected.
‘Faf [du Plessis] played really well especially after we lost two early wickets he still took the game towards him and played his natural attacking game,’ said Rossouw.
‘He [Faf du Plessis] knuckled down and got the job today. We wanted a guy to stay there at the end of the innings. So, we started targeting the 17th over of the innings.
‘It’s never going to be easy playing Bangladesh in Bangladesh as they know the conditions and they got the home crowd backing them up.
‘We got to rock up and do the business,’ he said.
-With New Age input
