Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan conceded that their hopes of reaching the World Cup semi-finals were all but over after a 149-run defeat by South Africa in Mumbai on Tuesday. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table The Proteas scored 382/5 when batting first with Quinton de Kock making 174 runs – his third century of the tournament – and Heinrich Klaasen a rapid 90. South Africa, wobbled briefly to be 36/2, but then ran riot with 144 runs off their last 10 overs.
In the chase, Bangladesh collapsed to 58/5, with only Mahmudullah’s 111 preventing an even bigger margin of defeat. The defeat means Bangladesh are rock-bottom in the 10-team tournament with four defeats out of five matches played. Their only win came against Afghanistan at the start of the 50-over tournament. “We’d still like to finish up the table, if not semi-finalists then fifth or sixth,” said Shakib, returning from a thigh injury that forced him out of a defeat by India. Bangladesh, who had won three of their four previous ODIs against South Africa, made a decent start. “Yes, I thought we bowled well for the first 25 overs, got three wickets and they were going at five-an-over,” said Shakib. “Then they kicked on, I thought Quinton de Kock batted really well and the way Heinrich Klaasen finished it off, we didn’t have any answers to it.” Shakib had a dreadful day. Playing his fifth World Cup, he returned expensive figures of 1-69 in nine overs before falling for just one. “We should have bowled better but we lost our plans in the last 10 overs,” said the 36-year-old all-rounder. “That’s where we lost the game.” As for whether Mahmudullah and fellow middle-order veteran Mushfiqur Rahim should be promoted up the order, Shakib said: “They’re doing their roles well but our top four or five are not scoring runs, need to score more runs so we can get more out of them.” The 37-year-old Mahmudullah added: “I have seen a lot of ups and downs throughout my career. (Batting down the order) is fine. “Yesterday the coach (Chandika Hathurusingha) told me that I was batting at No 6. I went out there and played my game”. Shakib, looking at the tournament as a whole, said: “South Africa, India and New Zealand are the three teams that look like they can win the title. But anything can happen…There’s still a long way to go. “There is a lot to learn and a lot to play for. For the (2025) Champions Trophy, we have to be in the top eight (in the ODI standings) and that’s important.” ‘Free-spirited’ De Kock must be allowed to fly’: Markram [caption id=“attachment_13292022” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Quinton de Kock struck his third century of the ODI World Cup against Bangladesh at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. AP[/caption] Markram believes the soon-to-retire wicketkeeper-batter De Kock is a “free-spirited guy” who should be allowed “to fly”. “We all know Quinton to be the free-spirited guy that he is, but he actually has a fantastic cricket brain on him,” Markram said in the post-match interaction. De Kock, who announced this would be his final ODI assignment, has overtaken Virat Kohli (354) to be the leading run-scorer at the 2023 World Cup with 407 runs. “And then you never want to clip his wings, really. You just want to let him fly. He structures it the exact way he feels (the) need, and we back that completely as a unit, Markram stated. “He assesses conditions really well and communicates that to us off the field even before we have walked out to bat. It adds a lot of value in that regard.” “I know that word (process) is thrown around quite a bit, but that really is what it is. And like I have mentioned, for us as a batting unit, even as a bowling unit, we try to take really good options out there and make good decisions,” Markram said. “If those options speak to the conditions, we feel like we will be in the game. If we can do that for long periods of time and move forward each game, then we hope it puts us in a good position,” he added. South Africa, who missed qualification in 2019, look good to make it to the semi-finals this time around. But Markram said they would not want to look too far ahead. “I think that is a pretty dangerous place to be, to be honest. I do not think you want to start trying to do maths this far out. There are still four games of cricket and that is potentially eight points up for grabs,” he said. “That is what we are going to try to push for. I think if you start sitting and hoping for a result from this team and trying to work out we maybe only need two wins left’ or whatever it is. I do not think that is a great place to be as a unit,” he added. Markram says there is no blueprint or a plan but just basic understanding developed in the players over a period of time. “It goes without saying that you obviously do need wickets in hand but we have not spoken about a blueprint as a unit – it has actually been quite a strange build up the last two months or maybe slightly longer now,” Markram said. “No definitive roles (have been) given, but everyone kind of knows now what they need to do to help this batting unit peak at their best. There is not necessarily a blueprint, but guys understand how to approach it,” he said. (with inputs from agencies)