Tigers hope to stun South Africa in SCG debut

Emboldened by their improved fast bowling group, Bangladesh is determined to keep up the winning momentum when they take on South Africa in their second Super 12 match of ICC Twenty20 World Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Thursday.

The match is set to start at 9:00am Bangladesh Standard Time and will be aired live on Gazi TV and T Sports.

There is additional motivation for Bangladesh as this will be their first match at Australia's oldest cricket ground, the SCG, in any format of cricket.

Thanks to their fast bowling group, Bangladesh made a winning start in this year’s T20 World Cup, beating the Netherlands by nine runs in their first match in Hobart.

It was their first win at the main round of the T20 World Cup since their victory against West Indies in the inaugural edition back in 2007.

Taskin Ahmed led the victory with his career-best 4-25 and was ably supported by new fast bowling sensation Hasan Mahmud.

Another pacer Mustafizur Rahman had nothing to show for in the wickets column but his economical bowling helped the team defend a below par total of 144.

Bangladesh were no match against South Africa in the previous seven games as they lost all of those matches without much resistance.

Moreover, since the last T20 World Cup in 2021, they have failed to beat any top teams in the format.

But South Africa’s poor luck in major tournaments is giving them a little confidence boost.

Like Bangladesh, South Africa also could have made a winning start against Zimbabwe but the rain in Hobart after Bangladesh-Netherlands match, forced them to share points.

Bangladesh’s batting will be put to test against the Proteas pacers, which experienced a collapse against an inexperienced Dutch bowling line up. Most of the top order batters got starts but couldn't carry on.

Such batting would bring Bangladesh’s downfall against the world class bowling line up of South Africa.

Squads

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Afif Hossain, Mossadek Hossain, Liton Das, Yasir Ali, Nurul Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Najmul Hossain, Nasum Ahmed and Soumya Sarkar

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Reeza Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Rillee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen