Mumbai: A 20th ODI hundred from Quinton de Kock and some brutal late hitting from Heinrich Klaasen guided South Africa to a huge first-innings total of 382/5 in their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup encounter against Bangladesh at the Wankhede Stadium.
The brilliant De Kock steadied South Africa’s innings alongside Aiden Markram after the loss of two wickets in the opening powerplay.
And the opener launched off the platform he had helped build, smashing 22 boundaries in his inspired 174 from 140 balls.
The departure of De Kock in the 46th over did little to halt the assault, with Klaasen and David Miller exploding at the death to push South Africa to another huge score.
Klaasen fell narrowly short of his century, departing for 90 from 49 balls, while Miller finished with 34 from just 15 deliveries.
South Africa, led by Aiden Markram again in the absence of Temba Bavuma, won the toss and chose to bat first.
The good news for Bangladesh was the return of their skipper, Shakib Al Hasan, who replaced Towhid Hridoy in the playing XI. Shakib added that he didn’t mind bowling first, embracing the opportunity to attempt to restrict the opponents to a reasonable total.
The South Africa openers started positively, although they were assisted by a dropped chance in the second over. Positioned at the first slip position, Tanzid Hasan dropped a nick from Reeza Hendricks, whose cut shot had gone straight to the fielder. Even though the pitch seemed to have some help for the bowlers, South Africa looked to continue in the usual aggressive fashion that has served them well through the tournament.
However, Bangladesh struck twice in the first Powerplay to rock the Proteas effort. Shoriful Islam bowled an incisive delivery which beat the defences of Reeza Hendricks and rattled his stumps.
And shortly afterwards, Mehidy Hasan Miraz trapped Rassie van de Dussen leg before.
The third-wicket pair of De Kock and Markram weathered this early storm and began laying the foundations for a good South Africa total. De Kock overcame the Bangladesh spin challenge on a wicket with a decent amount of turn and went for his strokes to compose an attacking fifty.
And he received good support from his partner, Markram, whose positive strokeplay ensured that South Africa went at over five-an-over even during the rebuilding phase.
The Tigers finally had something to cheer about when they dismissed Markram (60) in the 31st over, as South Africa’s stand-in skipper went for an inside-out drive against his opposite number but was grasped by Litton Das at long-on.
Yet the arrival of Klaasen signalled a changing of gears for South Africa, just as it had during the win over England. And Klaasen’s brutal hitting increased the South Africa scoring rate, with Kock reaching a century in the 35th over.
South Africa’s stylish left-handed opener continued to dish out the pain after reaching his ton, adding 74 runs in his next 40 balls to fire South Africa towards a mammoth total.
And the arrival of David Miller only increased the scoring rate yet further.
Klaasen departed for a brutal 90, which featured eight maximums, as he looked for big hits to finish the innings and was caught off a skier.
But Miller’s blitz of 34 from just 15 deliveries helped South Africa to a total that seems out of Bangladesh’s reach.