Riley Rossouw showcased his batting prowess with a belligerent century (109 of 56) while Quinton de Kock struck a fifty to power South Africa to an imposing 205 for 5 against Bangladesh in the Twenty20 World Cup in Sydney on Thursday.
Rossouw looked in imperious touch, striking the ball at close to 200 throughout his innings with de Kock playing second fiddle with a magnificent 63 off 38 balls.
While the rain gods threatened to play spoil sport, Rossouw and de Kock were raining sixes in their 168-run partnership, the highest for South Africa in a T20 World Cup match.
The duo sent the ball to the fence 14 times and 11 times over it.
Temba Bavuma’s woeful form continued as he fell for 2 in the very first over off a Taskin Ahmed (1/46) delivery after opting to bat.
But Rossouw and de Kock were at their aggressive best, as the duo plundered 21 runs smashing three fours and a six off Taskin in his next over.
Rossouw then continued the assault, this time fetching 16 runs off Mehidy Hassan (0/32).
Bangladesh got some respite as rain interrupted play for 20 minutes and they were able to dry out the runs for a couple overs after resumption but the South Africans soon resumed business as usual scoring boundaries at will.
With all Bangladesh bowlers bar Mustafizur Rahman (0/25) being tonked all across the ground, Shakib al Hassan (2/33) brought himself in to the attack in the 11th over but the skipper was also greeted with similar treatment.
Rossouw blasted Shakib for a four and two back-to-back maximums. The South African launched the ball over deep square leg for the first six of the over and then sent a full toss again in the same area for a similar result.
The 33-year-old Roussouw brought his half-century in 30 balls, de Kock’s fifty came soon after. The wicketkeeper brought the feat in style with a six over deep mid-wicket fence.
However, de Kock’s innings was brought to an end in the 15th over.
With new batter Tristan Stubbs departing soon after and Rossouw inching towards his century, the Proteas innings slowed down a bit.
Once Rossouw’s century came he sent the ball for a towering six before Shakib put an end to the scintillating innings.
On course for a 220-230 score at one point, South Africa lost a momentum in the death overs on a two-paced wicket and just about managed to cross the 200-run mark.
Scoreboard:
South Africa: Temba Bavuma c Nurul Hasan b Taskin Ahmed 2 Quinton de Kock c Soumya Sarkar b Afif Hossain 63 Rilee Rossouw c Litton Das b Shakib 109 Tristan Stubbs c Litton Das b Shakib 7 Aiden Markram c Soumya Sarkar b Hasan Mahmud 10 David Millernot out 2 Wayne Parnell not out 0
Extras: (LB-1, W-2, NB-4, P-5) 12 Total: (For 5 wickets in 20 Overs) 205
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-170, 3-180, 4-197, 5-204.
Bowling: Taskin Ahmed 3-0-46-1, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3-0-32-0, Hasan Mahmud 4-0-36-1, Mustafizur Rahman 4-0-25-0, Mosaddek Hossain 2-0-16-0, Shakib Al Hasan 3-0-33-2, Afif Hossain 1-0-11-1.
Lineups:
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Bangladesh: Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Shanto, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Afif Hossain, Musaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Mehidy Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman.