Tigers' big chance to create history against Proteas
Bangladesh will take a lot of heart from the recent Test win against New Zealand as well since they scripted a massive turnaround in spite of having a much worse record than that in South Africa.
Bangladesh are currently on top of the ongoing ICC ODI Super League, having won a home series against Afghanistan recently but they will be faced with a much bigger challenge when they meet South Africa in their own backyard in a three-match ODI series.
Bangladesh have a poor record in South Africa with no win against the team in 19 encounters across formats.
Their only success in the country came way back in 2007 when they beat the West Indies in the World T20 in Johannesburg.
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But Bangladesh will draw inspiration from the famous win in the 2019 World Cup over a full-strength South Africa.
Shakib Al Hasan, the best performer of that match, will be available in the series despite initially deciding to take a break from cricket.
Bangladesh will take a lot of heart from the recent Test win against New Zealand as well since they scripted a massive turnaround in spite of having a much worse record than that in South Africa.
South Africa a more settled unit now
The Proteas went through a transition phase for the last few years, especially after the retirement of the likes of Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and a few others. They are currently 10th in the Super League points table with only three wins out of ten matches. But they showed signs of improvement by winning a three-match ODI series, albeit not part of the Super League, against a strong Indian side and looked very settled as a unit.
They were led from the front by Temba Bavuma and there were good performances from the likes of Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma and Janneman Malan. Their bowling attack has Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi and Bangladesh will have their work cut out against a rejuvenated South Africa team.
Players to watch out for
Mushfiqur Rahim has been in glorious form in the ODI format and averages over 50 in his last seven innings. Mushfiqur is the only batter who has a hundred in South Africa and he will be one of the players against whom South Africa need to be very careful.
Litton Das was the highest run-getter of Bangladesh's last home series with a century and a fifty. He is in red hot form in all three formats and can be a handy player in South Africa.
Rassie van der Dussen was outstanding in the middle-order against India in the recent home series and averages 63 in his last nine ODI innings. He smashed a hundred and a fifty, both match-winning, against India and was dismissed only once in the series.
Tabraiz Shamsi has picked up 17 wickets in his last nine matches and maintained an economy rate of under five runs per over. Given Bangladesh's weakness against wrist spin, Shamsi could well be the trump card for Temba Bavuma.
Ground, pitch and conditions
Out of 55 completed matches at the SuperSport Park in Centurion, teams batting second won more matches (32). The recent records also suggest that the teams batting second on this ground have a better chance. So the team winning the toss will look to have a bowl.
The average first innings total at this venue is 246. There have been 17 first innings total of between 200 to 249 which means a total somewhere around the 250-mark is going to be par score. SuperSport Park is known to be one of the quicker pitches in South Africa and the pacers will enjoy bowling here.
The match will begin at 5 pm BDST at the SuperSport in Centurion.
