Tigers show some fight

They took their sweet time, but after more than a month of cricket, Bangladesh finally fulfilled their captain's stated target of looking like they were a team that had come to play and gave their best. That they still lost the first T20I to South Africa on Thursday speaks to the difference in quality between the two sets of players, but in being on level terms with South Africa for around 20 of the 40 overs the visitors showed that they still have the will to fight.

During those 20 overs Bangladesh played something approaching smart cricket, but in the end it was South Africa's greater T20 nous, showcased in how they remained in contention even during Bangladesh's good periods, that won the day.

"There's no end to learning. They made nearly 200 [195] runs but we also made 175," said Soumya Sarkar, whose 47 was the highest score and it seemed like the match could be won when he was at the crease. "If one batsman did well in the middle-overs, we could have won the game easily. This will give us confidence that we can also score 200."

Bangladesh started the match with the strange decision to go in with six bowlers, but it turned out to be a smart one in the end as three of the specialists – Shafiul Islam, Taskin Ahmed and Mohammad Saifuddin – bowled just two overs each and conceded 74 from those six overs. It seemed with the bowling failures of the tour so far in mind, the team management and the captain decided that all the available bowling resources would be needed.

Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers's 79-run second-wicket stand in just seven overs had threatened another embarrassing result, but perhaps for the first time on tour or perhaps because of the compressed nature of the shortest format, some tight bowling turned things around. Mehedi Hasan Miraz continues to impress, and after two boundary-less overs from skipper Shakib Al Hasan and himself, he was smart and brave enough to float one up to De Villiers who waited and waited but still miscued the intended hit over long on to Mahmudullah Riyad at long off. Imrul Kayes's spectacular catch at long off to dismiss Duminy was the best example of an overall sharp fielding effort, with Taskin Ahmed's misfield at short fine leg in the sixth over being the notable exception.

While the bowling after the De Kock-De Villiers stand kept the Tigers in the hunt, the batting in the first 10 overs, especially from Soumya, actually put them in front. Bangladesh were 92 for two at the end of nine overs, but Soumya's dismissal changed the complexion of the game. Unlike South Africa's stock-taking batting after the second-wicket stand was broken, which set the stage for the fifth-wicket stand of 62 in the last five overs between Farhaan Berhardien and David Miller, Bangladesh's seniors in Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad perished going for big shots.

There also things the Tigers can learn from the Proteas. Despite all their talk of Bangladesh batsmen not being big-hitters, Bangladesh hit seven sixes to South Africa's five and scored 98 runs in boundaries to South Africa's 88. However, 45 dot balls played by the visitors in comparison to 22 by South Africa made the difference. 

But Bangladesh seem to have found some fight left in them. If they can combine it with the smartness they displayed in parts of Thursday's T20I and learn a bit from their opponents, a repeat or something better could be in store for the tour-ending second T20I in Potchefstroom on Sunday.