After four weeks of mostly woeful cricket, Bangladesh finally showed some fight in the first T20I although they still lost the game by 20 runs, writes ESPNCricino.
It has observed South Africa were thankful that some of their fringe performers came to the fore, notably their fast bowlers, and for the late impetus provided by Farhaan Behardien.
In an ironic twist, Bangladesh had hit more boundaries (21) than South Africa (20) on Thursday, but Andile Phehlukwayo, Robbie Frylinck, Dane Paterson and Beuran Hendricks managed to offset that by stringing together a lot of dot balls - 52 in total, the specialised cricket portal said in a match preview on Saturday.
It added that an inexperienced bowling attack came under fire but did quite well to withstand it.
Tigers meet hosts South Africa in the last match of the series in Potchefstroom on Sunday at 6:30pm Bangladesh standard time. The visitors have so far lost all the matches -- a two-match Test series, a three-match one-day international series and unassailable 0-2 scoreline in T20 series with the final one to go.
In the previous match, Bangladesh's spinners performed just as well, especially Mehidy Hasan, who was instrumental in ensuring South Africa were kept to under 200. ESPNCricinfo said the skill he showed to dismiss a rampaging AB de Villiers, refusing him the room to free the arms, or the length to get under the ball should give Bangladesh some hope.
"But they need their batsmen to step up, especially the seniors. Otherwise they run the risk of returning home empty handed," wrote ESPNCricinfo's Mohammad Isam.