The casual observer could easily fall into a trap for thinking that Bangladesh’s opening World Cup match victory against South Africa was an upset, a lesser team overcoming a major international cricket force against the odds. However, those who have been paying close attention to the trajectory of progress made by Bangladesh, would recognise that the result was in fact rather predictable. 

The hard fought 21 run victory was accompanied by various tumbling records, including Bangladesh’s highest ever ODI score but ultimately the two points gained in their first tournament outing will be the most pleasing aspect of the win. From a wider perspective, after a series of one sided games, the tournament itself was crying out for a genuine contest to ignite people’s interest, this was duly delivered in the warm Oval sunshine. We look at some of the key factors behind the Bangladesh victory.

Preparation

The legendary Manchester United and Ireland midfielder, Roy Keane would frequently remind his teammates that failing to prepare meant preparing for failure. No one could accuse Bangladesh of cutting corners in relation to their World Cup preparation. By already spending almost a month in Ireland and then the UK, competing in the tri-series tournament and warm up matches, often in alien conditions, the team were fine tuned ahead of their World Cup opener. In particular, the tri series final was a high pressured affair, with invaluable knowledge and experience gained from overcoming the West Indies in difficult conditions. Refining gameplans and testing out bench strength all contributed to the positive result against South Africa.

Grinding it out

The satisfaction from victory after a closely fought tussle will be immeasurable for the Bangladesh players and coaching staff, the game still appeared to be in the balance with a handful of overs to be bowled and was only decisively won following the dismissal of JP Duminy in the 48^th over when he dragged a slower ball from the Fizz onto his stumps. 

Batting deep into the innings was clearly a game plan by the Bangladesh batting unit, building a painstaking platform through sensible risk free cricket was the priority before an assault against the SA bowlers in the dying overs. The back bone of the innings was the partnership of 142 between the stalwarts Shakib and Mushifiq, although neither achieved a strike rate above 100, they expertly soaked up pressure following the fall of the openers, skilfully manipulating the bowling during the middle overs. 

This allowed Mahmudullah and Saikot to play with freedom at the end of the innings; Saikot repeatedly making room for himself by moving outside his leg stump and crashing the bowling through the offside, the highlight of Mahmudullah’s innings being a wonderfully nonchalant flick for 6 through midwicket. 

Even the opening partnership had an element of pragmatism, as Tamim’s hand injury was clearly hampering his strokeplay, Sarkar was given license to play expansively which he did to great effect. The decision to play Tamim is one that should be evaluated, given his clear discomfort and the fact that Liton Das is well prepared to step into the opening slot, it would be a surprise if this swap isn’t made in the next game against New Zealand.

South Africa’s scrambled minds

Having lost heavily to England on the same wicket after bowling first, it was a curious decision by South Africa to ask Bangladesh to bat when they won the toss. The South African bowlers must have looked at the wicket in despair at the end of the game, after conceding a total of 641 runs, against England and Bangladesh, on the same strip in the space of 4 days.   

The collective scrambled state of South African minds was shown in microcosm by the needless run out of De Kock. After edging the ball behind, De Kock appeared confused and momentarily unaware of where the ball had ended up. Keeper Mushifiq had spilled the chance but recovered quickly to gather the ball and throw a direct hit, De Kock being short of his ground after fatally hesitating to run. The lack of clear calling from Makram contributing to the frenetic situation, while commentating on BBC radio former England captain Alec Stewart described it as “dopey dumb cricket”, the kind of running between the wickets more suited to club cricket.

South Africa’s performance in the field was also unusually below their high standards; fielders frequently fumbled the ball and Rabada’s drop in the deep allowed Mahmudullah to continue his late innings onslaught. 

South Africa next face India, which has already turned into a must win game for them. In order to overcome the Indians and have any chance of progressing in the tournament they must rediscover the mental application that has so far been missing. If they fail the spectre of the chokers tag will loom large yet again.