Rakibul Hasan鈥檚 heroics led Bangladesh men鈥檚 emerging team to clinch the three-match one-day series as they beat their South African counterparts by 34 runs in the third and series-deciding game at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi on Friday.聽
Mahfuzur Rabby, who top-scored with 58 off 77, along with Rakibul (40 off 42), helped the hosts to recover from a precarious position of 118-8.聽
They managed 225 in 45.5 overs after Mahfuzur and Rakibul added 84 runs off 72 balls for the ninth wicket. Mahfuzur then put up another valuable partnership of 23 runs for the last wicket with Maruf Mridha.聽
Earlier, after being put into bat first, the Bangladesh emerging team kept losing wickets at a regular interval.聽
Captain Akbar Ali, who scored a brilliant hundred in a losing cause in the previous match, tried to hold the innings together for a bit with his 38-run innings.聽
Sesona Ndwandwa took three for 28 runs for the visitors, while Michael Van Vuuren took two wickets.聽
Chasing a moderate target, the South African side fell into a spin web set by the Bangladesh emerging spinners.聽
Left-arm spinner Rakibul, who opened the bowling from one end, struck in his first over. Another left-armer, Mahfuzur, soon joined the party as the visitors started to crumble.聽聽
Captain George Van Heerden and Andile Mogakane held the fort for a while in their 46-run partnership before Rakibul struck again.聽
The South Africa emerging team slipped to 94-7 in the 22nd over after Wasi Siddique took wickets in consecutive deliveries.聽
Tiaan Van Vuuren (40 off 34) and Nqobani Mokoena (37 off 47) showed some resistance at the lower order but couldn鈥檛 take them over the line.聽
Mokoena added 54 and 42 runs for the eighth and ninth wicket with Van Vuuren and Sesona Ndwandwa, respectively.聽
Rakibul took four wickets for 26 runs, while Mahfuzur and Wasi each took two wickets.聽
The teams will now travel to Chattogram, where they are scheduled to play the first four-day match at the Bir Shrestha Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Stadium starting on May 20.聽
The second and final four-day match will start on May 27 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.聽