South Africa’s seven-wicket triumph was a clinical performance throughout, be it in terms of the batting department firing or the bowlers proving a tad bit hot to handle for Bangladesh. A 106-run target was set for the visitors to chase which they went past with seven wickets in the tank. With this, they took the lead in the two-match series.
Standby skipper, Aiden Markram, was understandably proud of his troops for putting in a thorough performance. He applauded Bangladesh’s effort and admitted to being happy about losing the toss.
“Really good performance, incredibly tough for the team to put four days of good performance here. The bowlers stepped up and some really good partnerships with the bat to help us get a good lead. Credit to Bangladesh as well, they batted well and put up a good total. It was a really good toss to lose, we would have batted as well. The bowlers bowled really well and did the job for us. It happens like that in the subcontinent I feel, you lose wickets consecutively. Bangladesh bowled well too,” stated Markram during the post-match ceremony.
For Kyle to come in and step up, it was great: Markram
Markram was effusive in his praise for the two key performers who were the architects of the win, Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Verreynne.
“Some good things for us in the first innings as well as in the second innings. It’s very pleasing, KG (Kagiso Rabada) has been doing this for a really long time. For Kyle to come in and step up, it was great. A hundred for Verreynne is a special thing and he has batted well in the subcontinent conditions,” concluded Markram.
Rabada followed his three-for in the first innings with a majestic six-wicket haul in Bangladesh’s second innings. As for Verreynne, he became just the third wicket-keeper in South Africa’s storied history to smack a century in Asia. With this win, South Africa jumped to the fourth position in the points table for the 2023-25 cycle of the World Test Championship with a points percentage of 47.61%, boosting their chances of clinching a top-two finish.