Cape Town - The Proteas have rued their inability to build partnerships and the soft dismissals in their seven-wicket loss to Bangladesh in Mirpur on Sunday.
As it happened: Bangladesh win by 7 wickets
All-rounder, Farhaan Behardien, ruled out complacency on the Proteas’ part and gave credit to the hosts for their tenacity and execution on the day.
“We weren’t surprised at all,” he said of Bangladesh’s bounce-back. “The way they have been playing in the last month against Pakistan and India has been good, it was not a surprise at all, we know what they are capable of. We were off the mark today, they started really well with a few early wickets, even then I thought we played the first 10 overs really well. The spinners got in the game and we lost regular wickets.”
“I don’t know if it was a pressure situation, I think there were maybe a few soft dismissals,” he added.
Behardien (36) rallied the tail to take the Proteas to a respectable score of 160, a total he says the team was “hopeful” of defending.
“We are always hopeful, no matter if we score 100 or 350,” he said. “ We want to do the business in all conditions. They got a fast start, despite the two early wickets, but Soumya played really well.”
A new venue, unknown conditions and the opportunity for a series win sets up a striking final match in Chittagong on Wednesday. Both teams travel to Chittagong on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Rilee Rossouw was found guilty of breaching Article 2.2.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct. A decision will be announced on Tuesday.