RSA VS BAN - 21st Match, Group D, ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2024

That, ladies and gents, is a wrap for today. Another low-scoring thriller in New York and Pakistan would be hoping to hit their straps as they lock horns with Canada at the very same venue tomorrow. A loss in that game would mean an early exit for Pakistan. Let's hope we witness another thriller. Until then, cheers and goodbye from the team of Raju Peethala, Anurag Hegde, Saurabh Shankar and Vinod Kumar.

How crucial was that moment? (Refer 16.2). Mahmudullah was on 15 when he was wrongly adjudged lbw (off Baartman) by Sam Nogajski. What's crucial was that the ball deflected off Mahmudullah's pads and trickled to the fine leg fence. Since it was declared out by the onfield umpire, the ball was deemed dead and the Bangladesh fans were very vocal in letting their disappointment known at that time. 5 balls later, Rabada hardly appealed for leg before and this time Hridoy was at the receiving end. The ball, according to ball tracker, went into clip leg bail (umpire's call on hitting). Bangladesh fought really hard, but perhaps needed some of these aforementioned moments to go their way, but not to be.

Aiden Markram | South Africa Captain: You're always going to be nervous in a final over finish like that. It can make you mentally quite tired but it’s great to be a part of games like these. (The catch) It could’ve gone anywhere but a few things went our way today so was great to be on the right side of that and get the win. You want to drag the game out as long as you can, it’s all conditions dependent so we wanted to drag the game out. We put him under quite a bit of pressure but David (Miller) has done it back to back to get us to decent scores.

Najmul Shanto | Bangladesh Captain: We were bit nervous but we were confident we could get over the line but unfortunately it did not happen. (Tanzim Hasan) He worked really hard last couple of days, we wanted wickets with the new ball and he showed character today. This is the match we should have won, last couple of overs they bowled really well. It can happen in cricket. (Rishad) He is very good, the way we bowled last couple of series, he practiced very hard. We’ve struggled with leg-spinners over the last 10-15 yrs so we’re lucky we got one. Hopefully he can continue. Thanks to all the supporters, hopefully they'll come to the West Indies as well.

Heinrich Klaasen | Player of the Match: That was not nice on the heart but good that we got over the line. The wicket is not too great for strokeplay. We got some good information from the last game and applied it today, we got a decent score. Luckily we’ve got experience in the change room, we almost had a One-Day mindset. Three pressure games now but I think we’re through so that’s good.

South Africa winning by a margin of under five runs in T20 WCs
1 vs NZ Lord's 2009
2 vs NZ Chattogram 2014
3 vs Eng Chattogram 2014
4 vs Ban New York 2024
No other side have won by under five runs more than two instances in T20 World Cups.

Four outfield catches in a T20 World Cup match
Darren Sammy vs Ire Providence 2010
Aiden Markram vs Ban New York 2024

Most consecutive wins against Bangladesh in T20Is
10 New Zealand (2010-21)
9 Pakistan (2016-22)
9 South Africa (2007-24) *
8 India (2009-18)

Lowest targets successfully defended by South Africa (T20I)
114 vs Ban New York 2024 *
116 vs SL Colombo RPS 2013
121 vs WI North Sound 2010
129 vs NZ Lord's 2009

Lowest targets successfully defended in T20 WCs
114 SA vs Ban New York 2024 *
120 SL vs NZ Chattogram 2014
120 Ind vs Pak New York 2024
124 Afg vs WI Nagpur 2016
127 NZ vs Ind Nagpur 2016

14:04 local, 18:04 GMT, 23:34 IST: Popular for their lack of luck in ICC tournaments, South Africa have, finally managed to turn the tide. Last week they found themselves in a bit of pickle at 12/4, chasing 104 against Netherlands and today was no different either. Opting to bat, they lost their top 4 inside 5 overs pretty cheaply, but managed to clinch victory from the jaws of defeat. Much like their opponents, Bangladesh, too, lost their top 4 fairly cheaply and needed a partnership to put things back on track. Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah got together for the 5th wicket and added 44 to steer Bangladesh close to the victory line. In fact, they needed just 20 off 18 with 6 wickets in hand. The 18th over from Rabada, however, shifted the balance completely as he managed to remove the dangerous-looking Hridoy and conceded just 2. With lack of pace options, Markram trusted Maharaj to do the job in the final over and thanks to his luck (3 full tosses), Proteas managed to steal the contest to make it 3/3 in the tournament.

Maharaj to Taskin Ahmed, 1 run, South Africa win by 4 runs. What a thriller. Once again the ball slips out of Maharaj's hand and he serves a high full toss wide of off. Taskin Ahmed can only slash it into the covers. The batters wait in anticipation hoping that could be a height no ball, but the umpires are having none of it. Game over!!

Taskin Ahmed, left handed bat, comes to the crease

6 needed off the final ball

Maharaj to Mahmudullah, out Caught by Markram!! Mahmudullah doesn't want to leave. He stands stunned after seeing the South African skipper pull off an excellent boundary-flirting catch. A low full toss from Maharaj and Mahmudullah tonked it really hard straight down the ground. Markram shows excellent awareness as he runs back to his left to take a high-pressure catch well above his head. Had he missed it, that would have been game over. Mahmudullah c Markram b Maharaj 20(27) [4s-2]

Maharaj to Mahmudullah, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

6 needed from 2

Maharaj to Rishad Hossain, leg byes, 1 run, floats it full outside off, Rishad Hossain gets a long way across looking for a sweep and misses it completely. Deflects off the front pad to the leg-side and the batters steal a quick single...

South Africa review for lbw. Is the impact just outside off? Flat line on UltraEdge which confirms no bat. As expected, the impact is outside off and Rishad can breathe now...

Rishad Hossain, right handed bat, comes to the crease

7 neeeded from 3