London: After registering their second consecutive loss in the ongoing World Cup, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis assured that his side will come out strong and will give a tough fight to the opposition teams in the remaining matches.
Sunday, Proteas were expected to come out strong after their thrashing against England in the opening encounter. However, it didn’t pan out the way they expected as Bangladesh first posted a target of 331 and then defended it at The Oval, thus making the World Cup campaign even tougher for South Africa.
Reflecting on the overall performance, du Plessis stated that things didn’t go according to their plan as they weren’t able to pick wickets upfront and allowed Bangladesh to set a big total. While chasing, none of the South African batsmen could score big and eventually they managed 309 runs in their full quota of 50 overs.
“Obviously today didn’t go according to the plan. Lungi (Ngidi) getting injured (with left hamstring trouble) wasn’t ideal at the start of the campaign. 330 was over par, and everyone chipped in with the bat, but all in all, it wasn’t ideal from us,” said du Plessis at the post-match presentation ceremony.
After winning the toss, South Africa invited Bangladesh to bat first. Shakib Al Hasan (75), Musfiqur Rahim (78), and Mahmudullah (46 not out) led the charge and helped Bangladesh register their highest ODI score against the Proteas.
“The thinking at the toss, after speaking to the groundsman, was that there would be a lot of pace and bounce. Against a sub-continental side, if they do get runs on the board, they can squeeze you. But in hindsight, we would have changed that. To go for that many runs, even without Lungi, wasn’t ideal. We have to take that on the chin. At the 45-over mark, I looked up at the screen and we were at the same stage, and it shows that we were really bad in the last five overs,” said du Plessis.
“It is definitely not getting easier for us. South Africa is a very proud sporting nation. The skills weren’t there today but I promise there will be a lot of fight. We are firing at about 50-60 per cent at the moment and it shows that even Bangladesh can beat that on any day,” added the South Africa skipper.
South Africa will next face India June 5 where Ngidi would not be playing for them due to a hamstring injury he picked up Sunday.
IANS