Bangladesh vs. South Africa, 1st T20I: Winners and Losers

South Africa clinched a comprehensive 52-run win over Bangladesh in the opening T20 in Mirpur on Sunday. Having won the toss and opting to bat first, the visitors were restricted to 148-4 in their 20 overs.

The modest total should have been entirely in Bangladesh's reach, especially with South Africa's rookie bowling attack, but a combination of some crafty spin from the Proteas as well as disciplined fielding helped them seal an impressive win.

We take a look at the winners and losers from the first T20 below, add yours in the comments.

There will be many little tests for South Africa during this tour. Across all the formats, a number of their back-up players will be tested. Their batsmen will be tested in conditions they are not overly accustomed to. The support staff, too, will be tested.

Charl Langevedlt was appointed as South Africa’s new bowling coach earlier in the year after Allan Donald’s contract was not renewed. Although he has been on the job for a few weeks now, Sunday was the first time he did his job publicly.

So far, so good for Langeveldt. South Africa’s back-up bowlers applied themselves impeccably. They bowled with discipline and they rarely erred, executing their plans perfectly.

Every coach goes through a honeymoon period and while that might be what helped Langeveldt’s troops on Sunday, the first signs are there that he has done some good work with the next generation behind the scenes.

Once upon a time, JP Duminy was thought of as nothing more than a part-time spinner. But every single time Duminy picks up a ball to fill the “part-timer” role, he makes an impression.

Sunday was no different as Duminy bagged two wickets in his four overs, with an economy rate of just 2.75. On a track that is very much spin friendly, Duminy looked every bit the “all-rounder” he has become recently.

Bangladesh’s bowlers did a good job in restricting South Africa, but their batsmen simply couldn’t complete the job. 

While South Africa’s attacking bowling had a lot to do with it, poor shot selection cost Bangladesh on more than one occasion. It’s understandable that Bangladesh want to attack in the shortest format of the game, but they were reckless too often.

Curiously, South Africa opted for AB de Villiers to open the batting, despite having a guy like Rilee Rossouw in the side.

Having two aggressive batsmen, in De Villiers and Quinton de Kock, at the top of the order resulted in two early wickets, leaving the rest to pick up the slack. Rossouw only came in to bat at No. 6, and it seems as if South Africa haven’t figured out their best batting combinations in this T20 side yet.

Despite the fact that it’s monsoon season in Bangladesh, the weather held up and there were no interruptions in the first T20. Organising cricket during monsoon season is a somewhat silly thing to do, but it worked out well on Sunday.

Faf du Plessis was by far the best batsman from both teams on Sunday. His 79 off 61 on a difficult pitch put South Africa in a strong position and got them off to the best possible start on this tour.