Unpredictability looms as Tigers out to hunt down Protea Fire

Bangladesh successfully passed their first hurdle a couple of days ago when they pipped Asian rivals Sri Lanka in a tense T20 World Cup match in Dallas. The clash had a major say in the qualification scenario for the Super Eight as Sri Lanka, after the defeat, have little chance to make the second round.

South Africa, despite early stutters, managed to see off the Netherlands in another crucial Group D encounter and as a result, they, along with Bangladesh, are favourites to reach the Super Eight.

Bangladesh did overcome the Sri Lanka challenge but they were nowhere near their best, especially with the bat. But the Tigers won’t be too worried about it because it’s the bowling that is likely to be the determining factor in their next game against South Africa, one of the contenders for the T20 title.

The Proteas will be runaway favourites to win the game but the unevenness of the pitch at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York could make the contest a lot closer than expected. 

South Africa themselves almost messed up the 106-run chase on Saturday against the Dutch. It was the veteran David Miller who used all his experience to guide his team home.

The drop-in pitches in New York have received a lot of criticism for its extremely bowling-friendly nature. The run rate at this ground in four matches so far has been only 5.75 which is lower than any other ground used in the ongoing T20 World Cup.

The high clay content of the pitches have helped the fast bowlers extract a lot of bounce which often turned injurious to the batters. 

While the fast bowlers have picked up 40 wickets at an economy rate of 5.57 in New York, the spinners have claimed only nine and economy rate has been slightly higher (5.85). 

The bounce and sideways movement promoted teams to play four fast bowlers in the XI. India left out one of their best bowlers in Kuldeep Yadav to play an extra fast bowler in their match against Ireland. South Africa and the Netherlands have also played four seamers each. 

But do Bangladesh have the luxury to go that way? They sure have four fast bowling options but it is not sure how Soumya Sarkar will fare. 

He was not used by Najmul Hossain Shanto in the previous match and as a bowler he is not in the same league as some of the all-rounders like Hardik Pandya, Bas de Leede and Marco Jansen who played here.

But the frontline seamers in Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Tanzim Hasan Sakib doing well against Sri Lanka is good news going into the South Africa game. 

Bangladesh batters will be tested big time by the South African pace battery consisting of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen and Ottniel Baartman.

Apart from the quicks, batters from the middle order will be in focus because it has been hard work for the top order in New York.

Top-order (1-3) batters average a mere 12.1 and strikes at 83.1 at this ground largely because of the challenging conditions and it’s mostly the middle and lower order batters who have made vital contributions. 

Miller, Tristan Stubbs and Sybrand Engelbrecht – all middle-order batters – made significant impact with the bat in the South Africa-Netherlands game.

Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah will be Bangladesh’s best bets in the match against South Africa. Both of them are good players of pace, especially Hridoy who has a superb strike-rate of 144.8 against this type of bowling in T20Is.

The experienced Mahmudullah, who expertly finished the chase against Sri Lanka, has good memories of playing South Africa. He struck a century in last year’s 50-over World Cup match against the Proteas.

South Africa will have the edge they have already played two matches in New York while Bangladesh had to fly to the state after the Sri Lanka match was over.

“You look at conditions, you look at a really strong Bangladesh team and it’s going to be a proper challenge for us. So naturally I’m looking forward to it. We’ve luckily had the privilege of playing two games now on the surface and at this venue so hopefully It can give us even clearer plans and we can develop plans from a batting point of view how to get to a score of maybe about 140 if we do bat first and hopefully then our bowlers can do the rest,” South Africa skipper Aiden Markram said ahead of the Bangladesh clash.

The match will begin at 8.30 pm BST on Monday.