- South African debutant Kagiso Rabada (C) exults after picking up one of his six wickets against Bangladesh in the first ODI at SBNS yesterday
Bangladesh’s decision to bat first in the first one-day international against South Africa at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday raised quite a few eyebrows.
Continuous rain had kept the wickets covered for almost a day, making the conditions conducive for the pacemen. And, the decision made the hosts pay dearly as South Africa right-arm pacer Kagiso Rabada terrorised the Bangladesh batsmen to pick up a hat-trick on ODI debut and emerge as only the second bowler to achieve the milestone.
Bangladesh spinner Taijul Islam was the first to achieve the feat. The left-arm spinner spun cobwebs against Zimbabwe last December at the same venue to propel the Tigers to only their second ever 5-0 series sweep.
South Africa had benched senior paceman Morne Morkel to hand Rabada his maiden ODI. The 20-year old ensured of repaying the faith shown in him by bagging the hat-trick in his second over of the game and ended with bowling figures of 6/16 from eight overs including three maidens. Rabada made his first blow when he removed opener Tamim Iqbal in the fourth over. Tamim played the wrong line, saw his off-stump uprooted and walked back to the dressing room for a duck.
The Proteas’ spearhead then removed Liton Das and Mahmudullah, both for golden ducks, to script history. Rabada had angled the ball into Liton’s pads, which the batsman flicked straight to Farhaan Behardien at short midwicket for an easy catch.
Mahmudullah was making a comeback to the national set-up after recovering from a finger injury but only hung around for a while before taking a bitter walk back to the dressing room as he became the hat-trick wicket of the young pacer. Rabada had placed the ball into the pads of Mahmudullah on good length and left him stranded on the back-foot.
Rabada’s emergence in international cricket has been rapid. Riding on his incredible shows, South Africa Under-19 cruised to the final of the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup. The young South African side emerged as the champions while Rabada claimed the most wickets for them in the tournament. It took only three months for Rabada to get a call-up into the national side. The youngster made his international debut through a Twenty20 international against Australia in Adelaide last November. Rabada is the third South Africa bowler to take a hat-trick after JP Duminy and current Proteas bowling coach Charl Langeveldt.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
