Kagiso Rabada’s hattrick sets it up for SA

Kagiso Rabada broke the back of the Bangladeshi batting line by picking up 6 wickets for 16 runs and became only the 2nd bowler in the history of the game to pick up a hattrick on debut.

Rabada’s pace and accuracy had Bangladesh in all kinds of trouble before their most dependable pair of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim got together to put some runs on the board. But to Bangladesh’s over excited and sentimental crowd’s dismay neither batsman pushed on, leaving the tail to face another attack from Rabada and they fell well short of a decent target that would test Africa’s deep batting line up.

Rabada played like a seasoned seamer in his first game as he made life uncomfortable for the batsmen. He opened the bowling alongside Kyle Abbott, who bowled waywardly after South Africa opted to leave out Morne Morkel, the only member of their premier pace pack who has been included in the one-day squad.

Rabada first removed Tamim iqbal and then Litton Das off the next ball and then prepared to run into Mahmudullah, who was making a comeback after recovering from a finger injury. He got him out lbw off an inswinger, thus getting a well deserved hattrick

When SA came to bat, the runs were hard to come by thanks to Mustafizur Rahman, who picked up from where he left off against India and displayed a clever selection of cutters and variation of length but he was mostly a man alone. They defended valiantly and it was looking as if Bangladesh could make a match out of it until de Kock blasted a half volley by mortaza over mid-off for a boundary, which released the pressure. Then Quinton de kock, with Faf du Plessis went for their shots and put their wide range of shots on display.

After De kock’s dismissal, Rossouw joined du Plessis and they batted with responsibility and minimum risk and inched their way to victory, helping the side take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Everyone wondered is this the same side that whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 and defeated India 2-1 ?The hosts batting display yesterday looked a pale shadow of their batting prowess.

Image Credits:  AFP PHOTO/ Munir uz ZAMAN  (Photo credit should read MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images)