(Cricket news) South Africa were very unlucky in the first fixture in the 2022 T20 World Cup. Their opening game against Zimbabwe ended in a no result due to rain. South Africa were on the brink of securing a victory but rain played a spoilsport as it has done a few times already in this tournament. The Proteas desperately needed 2 points from their 2nd game against Bangladesh and they did just that by getting a dominant 104 run victory. The win puts South Africa on top of the Group 2 table with 3 points but India is likely to overtake them later tonight. The biggest takeaway is that their NRR is 5.200 which is currently the highest among all the teams in the Super 12s.

The player of the match was Rilee Rossouw who scored an incredible 109 off just 56 balls as he hit 7 fours and 8 sixes. The left hander came in when South Africa lost skipper Temba Bavuma in the very first over. He put together a partnership of 168 runs with Quinton de Kock to get South Africa to a mammoth total of 205/5. Rossouw became the first South African player to hit a ton in a T20 World Cup. In the game against Zimbabwe Rossouw didn't get a chance to bat, therefore his last game was the 3rd ODI against India in Indore where he scored a century. He is now the first and only player from a full member team to score a hundred in consecutive T20I games.

South Africa ended up cleaning up Bangladesh inside 17 overs for just 101 runs. Anrich Nortje ended up picking 4 wickets while Tabraiz Shamsi got 3 scalps. Rossouw made his international debut in 2014 and he played white ball cricket for two years before getting dropped in 2016. He had signed a Koplak deal with Hampshire County Cricket Club in 2017 which meant that he was ineligible to play for South Africa. He made his international return earlier this year and is now setting the stage on fire. Going forward in the tournament, the left hander will be extremely important for South Africa.

Also read: BCCI announces equal pay for centrally-contracted male and female players