MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Bangladesh fans will pray for one more upset win from their team on Saturday to prolong their World Cup campaign when they take on mighty South Africa in a must-win Group B match in Dhaka.
England’s nerve-jangling victory against West Indies today in Chennai ensured that Bangladesh have to beat the Proteas in their last round-robin match to reach the quarter-finals, much to the agony of their fanatical fans.
Bangladesh are tied on six points from five matches with West Indies, who take on India in their last match on Sunday, but they are way behind on net run rate and nothing but a win can take them through to the knock-out stage.
But it will not be easy for the co-hosts against an extremely confident South African side, who are looking more and more impressive with each passing day in this World Cup.
The South African bowlers have been an unstoppable force at the World Cup ensuring that they are the only team to have flattened every one of their opponents inside 50 overs.
South Africa have had contributions from almost everybody in the team so far barring captain Graeme Smith, who has averaged just 22 in the five games.
While AB de Villiers (318 runs), Hashim Amla (248) and JP Duminy (204) have scored bulk of the runs, spinners Imran Tahir (11 wickets) and Robin Peterson (10 wickets) and fast bowler Dale Steyn (10 wickets) have snared most of the wickets.
If Smith chooses Saturday to return to his best, it will be curtains for Bangladesh in all probability.
Shakib Al Hasan’s men defeated Ireland and Netherlands rather easily and topped it up with an upset win over England.
The battery of their left-arm spinners will be the best bet if they are to stop South Africa from becoming the Group B winners.
“We have not played our best cricket yet. We can do better than that and we will try to do that against South Africa,” opener Tamim Iqbal told reporters in Dhaka.
“If we can make the quarter-finals, it will be great because that was the team’s target before the tournament.”
In more bad news for Bangladesh, South Africa are expecting to have de Villiers, Tahir and Steyn available for selection for Saturday’s match.
All the players recovered from their respective injuries and will undergo fitness tests on Friday to confirm their availability.
“We will have a fully fit 15-man squad to choose from,” a team spokesperson said in Dhaka.
“It’s been a busy couple of days managing everyone but they’re all fine now.”