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Tigers take on Proteas in first T20I today

Augustin Sujan || risingbd.com

Published: 02:59, 5 July 2015   Update: 15:18, 26 July 2020
Tigers take on Proteas in first T20I today

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza (left) and South Africa captain JP Duminy (right)

Sport Correspondent: Bangladesh take on mighty South Africa in the opener of a two-match Twenty20 International series in Dhaka today (Sunday).

The match will start at 1:00 PM (Bangladesh time) at Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur.

Bangladesh‘s only memorable moment against South Africa came in their victory in the 2007 World Cup. Since then, they have no victory against the Proteas. The Tigers played only two T20I matches against the Proteas in which they were defeated.

Even Bangladesh lost all 10 previous matches against South Africa at home, mostly miserably. But this Bangladesh team is far different than the earlier ones. It has been transformed under the leadership of Mashrafe.

The hosts are now enjoying a wonderful season in international cricket. After a notable performance in ICC World Cup, the Tigers crushed Pakistan and won their first bilateral series against India. But the Tigers’ toughest challenge starts today with the first T20I against South Africa.

Bangladesh have been quite the form side in 2015, even winning their only T20 of the year, against Pakistan in Mirpur. It was just two days after they had completed a 3-0 ODI series win over them. However, Bangladesh`s T20 performance has generally been sub-par, as they have won just 12 out of 42 games.

South Africa, meanwhile, are the second most successful international T20 team currently, just behind Pakistan. The last time they played Bangladesh in this format was in 2008, but curiously, both teams will go into this game having won their last game but lost the previous four.

Bangladesh are likely to keep Jubair Hossain, Rony Talukdar and Rubel Hossain in the bench, opting for two left-arm spinners and Sohag Gazi`s off-spin in their bowling attack.

South Africa could have AB de Villiers as an opener or No 3, according to Faf du Plessis. The visitors could also employ a bit of extra pace in the form of Kagiso Rabada in Mirpur after he impressed in the slow pitch of Fatullah.

The two teams will also play three ODIs and two Tests.

Probable Teams:

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Litton Das, 3 Soumya Sarkar, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Sabbir Rahman, 7 Nasir Hossain, 8 Sohag Gazi, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Arafat Sunny .

South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rilee Rossouw, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 JP Duminy, 7 David Wiese, 8 Wayne Parnell/Chris Morris, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Aaron Phangiso/Eddie Leie.

risingbd/DHAKA/July 5, 2015/Augustin Sujan

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