South Africa defended the lowest total ever in T20 WC, beating previous record by India and Sri Lanka.
South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first. Tanzim Hasan Sakib broke the back of the South African top order with wickets of Reeza Hendricks (0), Quinton de Kock (18), and Tristan Stubbs (0). Then Taskin Ahmed accounted for Aiden Markram (4) as South Africa slipped to 23/4 in 5 overs.
Heinrich Klaasen (46) and David Miller (29) added 79 runs for the fifth wicket and helped push the final score to 113/6 in 20 overs. For Bangladesh, Sakib (3/18) and Taskin (2/19) were the stand-out bowlers.
In reply, Proteas bowlers also ruled the roost as they decimated Bangladesh's top order and reduced them to 50/4 in 10 overs. But then Towhid Hridoy (37) and Mahmudullah (20) added 44 runs to bring the Tigers back into the game. But some excellent death overs bowling by Kagiso Rabada and Ottniel Baartman helped South Africa.
Keshav Maharaj had to defend 11 runs in the 20th over and he did that handsomely with wickets of Jaker Ali and Mahmudullah to restrict Bangladesh to 109/7. Keshav Maharaj picked 3/27, while Rabada and Nortje picked two wickets each.
South Africa won the match by 4 runs and became the team to defend the lowest total ever in T20 World Cup history. They broke the record of Sri Lanka (2014) and India (2024), who both had defended 119 runs successfully. India had done the feat just a day before at the same venue against Pakistan.
The cricket fraternity was all surprised to see South Africa finally having luck their way and defending such a low total. They praised the winning team wholeheartedly on social media.
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