The series might have been sealed already but South Africa reserved their most ruthless performance for the dead rubber in East London on Sunday (October 22) as Bangladesh were subjected to a humiliating 200-run loss.
The task to pull one back in the series was always going to be tough for Bangladesh on a tour that has been nothing short of disastrous. The task was only made harder by the absence of Tamim Iqbal and Mustafizur Rahman.
And to add to the misery of the visitors, the players who came in new for South Africa displayed a fearless brand of cricket that caught Bangladesh off-guard. Temba Bavuma, playing just his second ODI after scoring a ton in his maiden game more than a year ago, was looking positive right from the word go alongside Quinton de Kock. He started off the match with a boundary and ensured his strike rate was over 100 throughout his stay as the openers put on 119 for the first wicket. Playing one shot too many, he was finally dismissed by Mehidy Hasan, who also immediately accounted for de Kock’s wicket.
Despite the double breakthrough, South Africa recovered quickly as Aiden Markram looked very comfortable out in the middle, batting alongside his skipper Faf du Plessis. Markram’s first boundary in the format was a six off Mehidy over long on. Du Plessis then got going after using the sweep to good effect against Mahmudullah to help himself to a four and a six in the 26th over.
Markram went past a fifty soon after du Plessis reached his own personal landmark and at that stage, with 15 overs to go, South Africa would have easily eyed a total above 380. With both batsmen cruising out in the middle having stitched a 150-run partnership, Bangladesh found some luck with du Plessis walking back to the pavilion retired hurt after injuring his lower back. With Markram also departing quickly, Bangladesh made the most of the situation by picking up some quick wickets. However, Kagiso Rabada and Farhaan Behardien still ensured that their side went past the 360-run mark to set the visitors a daunting target.
The chase got off to the worst possible start with Imrul Kayes departing early while trying to clear the mid-on fielder. Liton Das followed suit, getting trapped leg-before-wicket by the same bowler, Dane Paterson. And in the following over, things got worse with Soumya Sarkar edging one behind to Markram at slip.
Shakib-Al-Hasan tried to break the shackles with some crisp drives but at the other end, Mushfiqur Rahim struggled for timing. In the end, in an attempt to break free, the wicketkeeper-batsman perished to give Andile Phehlukwayo a wicket in his very first over of the match.
Shakib went on to complete his half-century but the chase appeared dead and buried with the innings approaching the halfway stage. The 67 runs he added with Sabbir Rahman accounted for nothing as it only managed to arrest the slide temporarily. Markram’s debut got better and better as he eventually went on to pick up the wickets of both the set batsmen before Imran Tahir completed the formalities.
Brief scores:
South Africa 369/6 in 50 overs (Faf du Plessis 91 retd hurt, Quinton de Kock 73, Aiden Markram 66; Mehidy Hasan 2-59) beat
Bangladesh 169 in 40.4 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 63, Sabbir Rahman 39; Dane Paterson 3-44, Aiden Markram 2-18) by 200 runs.
 as Bangladesh were subjected to a humiliating 200-run loss.){kind=link}