The conditions and form are a complete mismatch for both sides and the short boundary at Wankhede is expected to favor South Africa’s power-hitters.
To make matters worse, Bangladesh missed their captain and crucial all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in the last match, his first omission in a World Cup game since making his debut for Bangladesh. However, he hoped to play the game.
“When I practiced yesterday I did not feel negative. Will practice today also. If things go well, I will be fit Inshallah,” Shakib said in a pre-game press conference on Monday.
Shakib was also very excited about his team’s prospects.
“We have to take one game at a time. You know in the World Cup it doesn’t matter whether you won your last game or lost your last game. What matters that day is who is performing better. We saw South Africa flying high, we saw them lose against the Netherlands as well. He performed brilliantly against England. What this means is that this thing happens in cricket, especially in the World Cup. So, we will prepare the way we want to prepare ourselves. So, we want to play our best cricket and then we will see where we are,” said the Bangladesh captain.