How South Africa shifted to T20 mode in the final phase of their innings | Cricket-world-cup News

Three days after their mammoth victory over England in the sweltering Mumbai heat where their players were on the verge of collapsing, South Africa pulled off another big win — this time against Bangladesh. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat and what followed was a controlled blitz which helped them score 382 for 5 — the third time in five games they have posted a 380-plus score. When they bat first, they score big and that seemed to be the general plan. Maybe they also wanted to avoid fielding first in the heat and humidity after seeing how England’s players struggled the other day.

🇿🇦 THE PROTEAS SEAL VICTORY OVER BANGLADESH
A dominant display from the Protea batters to set up a huge chase for the Tigers led Quinton de Kock & Heinrich Klaasen 🤝🏏
The bowlers also demonstrated a disciplined line & length to bowl them out 🇧🇩#CWC23 #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/3cploSWrN9
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) October 24, 2023
South Africa didn’t get off to a flyer and were 36 for 2 in the eighth over. After the 37th over at the Wankhede Stadium, South Africa were 208-3. Quinton de Kock had just completed his third century of this World Cup and was on 106 while Heinrich Klaasen, who scored a century against England in those tiring conditions, was just getting warmed up at 24. But the end of the 50 overs they got close to 399, the total they had posted against England.
On their part, Bangladesh seemed to be doing everything fairly well. They kept their bowling tight, got two early wickets, and had just broken a 100-plus run partnership.
But then South Africa decided it was time to switch gears. With 13 overs to go, they switched to T20 mode. For 10 out of the next 13 overs, they effortlessly scored in double digits to give Bangladesh a mammoth target of 383. In fact, in the last 10 overs, they amassed 144 runs to completely take the game away from Bangladesh.
De Kock stole the show with a 140-ball 174, the highest score at this World Cup but just four runs short of his all-time highest ODI score of 178, Klaasen’s 90 and David Miller’s late cameo — an unbeaten 15-ball 34 — was at the core of South Africa’s batting might.
It’s true that South Africa’s batting has not been tested much in this tournament — apart from when chasing against the Netherlands. In fact, losing two wickets early to Bangladesh was the most pressure they were put under. But they calmly went about rebuilding their innings, soaking in the early pressure, not accelerating when they didn’t need to and content just punishing the loose balls.
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With the return of their regular captain Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh had a spring in their step. After reducing South Africa to 36-2 in eight overs, they would’ve thought they had a chance. The only way to topple this South African team with an extremely deep batting line-up was to get wickets at regular intervals. But South Africa knew that against a Bangladesh team with a relatively weak batting line-up, a score of 260-plus might give them a good chance.
Calm before the storm
Stand-in skipper Aiden Markram, leading the side in place of Temba Bavuma, who’s suffering from a gastric illness, and de Kock decided that stability was the need of the hour. They knew that if they stuck around, they could manage another skyscraping total. It’s not like they didn’t whack the ball around the park whenever they got the opportunity though.
The duo targeted Shakib and medium-pacer Hasan Mahmud. An adrenaline-filled six or boundary every couple of overs seemed to calm their nerves. Till the 37th over, they were content making the scoreboard tick. They accelerated a bit after the 38th over. However, it was only in the 43rd over, when Shakib brought himself on, that they decided to completely switch gears.
De Kock reached his 150 in his 150th ODI with a six, his second of that over. He also hit two boundaries with Bangladesh conceding 22 runs in that over.
When de Kock was caught at deep backward point in the 46th over, Klaasen and Miller continued with the hitting. Out of nowhere, Klaasen was on 90 but missed out on back-to-back centuries after being wonderfully set up Hasan Mahmud. The pacer bowled a slow bouncer which Klaasen tried to slog for a six but was caught in the deep Mahmudullah.Most Read
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Despite their new ball bowler Lungi Ngidi being out with a minor knee niggle, it didn’t look like the Rainbow Nation lacked any firepower in the bowling department.
Bangladesh looked steady at 30 for no loss after six overs but Marco Jansen struck with two wickets in as many balls to turn the tide. When Ngidi’s replacement Lizaad Williams took the third wicket in the next over, you knew that Bangladesh were in dire straits and when Kagiso Rabada took the fifth wicket in the 15th over, Bangladesh were clearly out of the contest.
The lone spark for them was Mahmudullah, whose 111-ball 111 which included 11 boundaries and four sixes disrupted South Africa’s plans for an early finish and much-deserved rest.