Mushfiq ton helps Bangladesh set 279 for Proteas
Riding on the unbeaten century of 110 runs by Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh set a target of 279 runs against hosts South Africa in the 1st ODI of the three-match series at De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley on Sunday.
Batting first after winning the toss, the Tigers scored 278 for 7 in 50 overs where their Test skipper scored his 5th ODI ton featuring 11 boundaries and two sixes off 116 balls.
Top-scorer Mushfiqur is the first Bangladesh batsman to hit a hundred against South Africa in ODI taking two runs off Kagiso Rabada in 45.3 overs when the team collection was 239/5.
Mushfiqur shared a partnership of 59 runs off 12 overs with Shakib in the 3rd wicket stand before Shakib (29 off 45b; 2x4) was caught by Hashim Amla off Imran Tahir.
The 3rd pair ended at 126/3 in the 26th over starting after the departure of opener Imrul Kayes at 67/2 in 14 overs. Kayes (31 off 43b; 4x4; 1x6) was the 2nd highest scorer for the side in the match.
After the departure of Shaklib, Mahmudullah Riyad (26 off 27b; 3x4; 1x6) gave a bit company to Mushfiqur in the 4th pair that contributed 59 runs in 12 overs to carry the team collection to 195/4 in 38.1 overs.
Bangladesh touched the 100-run mark in the 22nd over with a single taken by Mushfiqur Rahim off Imran Tahir in 21.1 overs.
The Tigers started a bit well with bat as their opening pair contributed 43 runs in 8.5 overs before Liton Kumar Das (21 off 29b; 4x4) was caught by skipper Fef du Plessis off Kagiso Rabada.
Imrul Kayes could stay long with Shakib but he was caught behind by Quinton de Kock off Dwaine Pretorius in the 14th over.
Sabbir Rahman (19), Mohammad Saifuddin (16) and Nasir Hossain (11) were the other notable scorers for Bangladesh.
Kagiso Rabada, who captured 10 wickets of Bangladesh in the two innings --5/30 and 5/33 -- in the Bloemfontein Test to clean sweep the visitors 2-0 in the series, again glittered in the match with 4 wickets for 43 runs in 10 overs.
Dwaine Pretorius bagged two wickets for 48 runs while Imran Tahir took one for 45 runs, both delivering 10 overs each.
Meanwhile, with day’s individual score, Shakib became only the 5th player to score 5000 runs and take 200 wickets in ODIs after Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), Jacques Kallis (South Africa) and Abdur Razzaq (Pakistan).
He started the match from 17 runs adrift and touched the 5000-run mark with a single off Dwaine Pretorius in 19.4 overs when Bangladesh collected 94/2.
Shakib (5012 runs from 178 matches on an average of 34.80) has become the 2nd highest ODI run getter of Bangladesh after Tamim Iqbal (5743 runs in 173 matches at average 34.38).
In their most recent ODIs in 2015, hosts Bangladesh won the last two ODIs of a three-match series to claim the series. But among their b 17 ODIs the Proteas have won 14, including winning six of six at home all by handsome margins, while Bangladesh managed three wins since October 2002.
The 2nd and 3rd ODI will be held at Boland Park and Buffalo Park on October 18 and 22 respectively.