Bangladesh put yet another erratic batting display to suffer a 31-run defeat in the second Twenty20 International against South Africa, conceding the two-match series 0-2, in Dhaka on Tuesday. A debutant leg-spinner and unheralded left-arm spinner proved to be more than handy for the Tigers, who did a fair job with the ball to restrict South Africa to 169-4, but crumbled with the bat once again to be dismissed for 138 runs.
Unlike the first match of the series, when they were folded for a paltry 96, Bangladesh had a decent start this time around as Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar put 46 runs in opening stand.
But the middle-order made a mess in the face of some average spin bowling to lose wickets in clusters before ending up with a big defeat that were hardly expected of them.
Debutant leg-spinner Eddie Leie claimed 3-16 while left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso added 3-30 as Bangladesh all out with five balls remaining to suffer series sweep for the first time in more than a year in any format.
Soumya made highest 37 off 21 balls in a good looking inning that was not good enough as he was guilty of throwing his wicket at a crucial time when everyone had expected him to build on his explosive start.
The Tigers started losing their momentum once Leie dragged Soumya out of his crease to get him stumped and Rilee Rossouw
caught Sakib al Hasan smartly at long on boundary off the very first ball of Phangiso.
Three wickets then fell with the same score of 82 runs in the space of five balls as Leie dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim (19) and Sabbir Rahman off consecutive balls before Nasir Hossain hoisted a catch off Phangiso.
Rony Talukdar struck Phangiso a big six before skipper Mashrafee bin Muratza returned the bowler same treatment to take 15 runs in an over, but they came as too little effort in too late.
Kyle Abbott bowled Rony (21) and last man Mustafizur Rahman off successive balls to completed the rout and finish with 3-20.
The batting failure must have left the bowlers shaking their heads after they managed to restrict South Africa to a gettable total despite a 95-run opening stand between Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers.
The way the duo was batting it looked South Africa would easily go past 200-run mark before Bangladesh struck back.
Arafat Sunny suckered de Kock, who made 44, chipping into a catch to Sabbir at midwicket to break the partnership and Bangladesh were immediately back into the game.
Nasir bowled the next over like a dream forcing a leading edge from JP Duminy before taking to glove off de Villiers (40) off successive balls.
Nasir could have added David Miller to his tally in the same over too if umpires had responded positively to a strong caught behind appeal off the final ball.
Miller played a crucial unbeaten knock of 30 and was accompanied by Rossouw (19 off six balls) in the final two overs to take South Africa’s score past 150-run mark.
-With New Age input
