Lucky to bat first

South Africa batsman Rilee Rossouw believed that the visitors were 'lucky' to bowl in the second innings since the Mirpur pitch, according to him, had a lot more turn later on in the opening T20 match yesterday.

Rossouw struck a 21-ball 31 and was involved in a crucial partnership with his captain Faf du Plessis, who hit a sublime 79 on a difficult wicket.

"I think both sides bowled really well today [Sunday]. Lucky for us we bowled in the second innings and it spun a bit more. I just thought we had an advantage. But both teams bowled really well," said Rossouw at the post-match press conference.

Despite losing two wickets early, the visitors managed to post 148. Going into the break, Rossouw stated that the visitors were confident of defending that score.

"We looked at the statistics and 150-odd looked a very good score on this ground. We thought we had a good chance of winning the match. And with the ball turning in the second innings, it favoured us. We bowled well and stuck to our guns," said Rossouw.

He also praised his skipper for his outstanding knock. He seemed to have judged the pitch to perfection and was sublime with his batting approach. Rossouw described the innings as 'immaculate'.

"He played really really well. When we lost two early wickets, he was still there and he played his natural aggressive game.

"We wanted a guy to be there till the end of the innings. We targeted the bowlers from the 17th over. Luckily for me the second ball went for a four and the momentum kept going from then on," said Rossouw.

The Rossouw-du Plessis pair added 58 runs in the last 6.4 overs, which included a few hefty blows against Bangladesh's prodigious left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman, who went wicketless in the match.