'Had we won those games, it would have been a different story': Mahmudullah

Bangladesh came into this match having lost three consecutive losses but they still had a slim chance of making the semifinals. But not anymore, as they were battered by South Africa on Tuesday and it was by far Bangladesh's most disappointing outing in the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup. They were simply not good enough to counter the pace and swing of South Africa's pace battery and were bundled out for a paltry 84.

Kagiso Rabada was the wrecker-in-chief in the first half of Bangladesh's innings. He took three important wickets in the powerplay and crippled Bangladesh's batting line-up that was without the experience of Shakib Al Hasan. While collecting the player-of-the-match award, Rabada told the broadcasters, "That wicket favoured the seamers and I'm just glad that today was my day. Every time we have the opportunity to practice, we try and implement what could possibly work for us."

In UAE, the pacers don't often get pitches responsive to their type of bowling but in this match, they got the ball to talk. "It's nice to see the ball swing, especially in T20 cricket, but it wasn't a surprise, having seen that happen in the IPL games here. There's a bit of bounce here, but it's a bit two-paced, some balls skid through, but it's probably the quickest wicket here," said Rabada.

Rabada's performance was backed up by a superb bowling display from Anrich Nortje who registered his best bowling figures in T20Is. "Anrich (Nortje) has been in good form for a long time now, and I'm happy for him," he mentioned. 

Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah admitted that they weren't good enough in the middle. "I think the wicket was pretty good to bowl on in the first half. We weren't good enough in the middle. That was a poor batting display."

Taskin Ahmed's sensational bowling spell was one of the rare takeaways from this match for Bangladesh. He made life difficult for the South Africa batters in his four-over spell and his pace was also quite high, regularly going past the 140 kph-mark. "Taskin has been bowling well in this tournament. We had the choice between Taskin and Fizz (Mustafizur Rahman), but we went with Taskin because he has been bowling well," Mahmudullah said.

Bangladesh still remained winless in the main round of the T20 World Cup despite coming quite close in at least two matches. "It's frustrating, but we could have won two games. If we had won those games, it would have been a different story," the Bangladesh skipper mentioned. 

The pace and bounce in the pitch reminded South Africa captain Temba Bavuma of pitches back home in South Africa. "(There was) quite a lot in the wicket early on, and KG (Rabada) and (Anrich) Nortje were able to exploit it. It excites us. The conditions reminded us of playing at home. It's never easy when you have one guy bowling 150 and another guy in KG who's got all the skill in the world," Bavuma stated. 

The Proteas had to work harder than they expected to chase down a moderate 85. They wanted to finish the game quickly in order to be in a good position in terms of net run rate. "We wanted to get the score in a good time, but the conditions were a bit tricky. It's a big game (against England) looking at the competition the way it is, they have had the better of us recently, and we would like to make amends," concluded Bavuma.

Bangladesh will face Australia in their last game in the tournament on Thursday.