Watch South Africa Vs. Bangladesh Cricket Live Online: 1st T20 — SA Returns After World Cup Heartbreak
Cricket fans can watch live online when a red-hot Bangladesh team faces a revamped South Africa seeing their first action since their devastating last-ball loss in the semifinals of the Cricket World Cup in March. But even though the Bangladesh one-day squad has been on a tear, winning 10 of their last 11 ODI matches, the country’s T20 team has not been nearly as successful.
Without a domestic T20 tournament, the Bangladesh players are relatively inexperienced in the fast-paced, high-run-rate format, with only 42 matches played — and only 12 wins. Of the victories, only three have come against the top-ranked teams.
South Africa, on the other hand, is ranked fifth in the world by the ICC for T20 competition.
To find out how to watch the first of two T20 International South Africa vs. Bangladesh matches live online, see the information at the bottom of this article. The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. local time at Shere Bangla National Stadium, in the Bangladesh capital city of Dhaka on July 5. That’s 3 a.m. United States Eastern Time, midnight Pacific.
South Africa has been idle since suffering its heartbreaking loss in the World Cup on March 24, and when the team returns to action Sunday, its batting lineup includes most of the heavy-hitting stars from that team — but the South Africa bowling attack has a completely new look.
Gone are the intimidating fast bowlers Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Vernon Philander, as well as baffling spinner Imran Tahir. Instead, South Africa will try to best a newly optimistic Bangladesh with a bowling corps led by Wayne Parnell, Kyle Abbot, David Wiese, and Chris Morris.
Only Parnell has significant international T20 experience, with 33 appearances.
But with A.B. de Villers — perhaps the world’s best batsman in limited-overs cricket — J.P. Duminy, Quentin de Kock, and T20 Captain Faf de Plessis in the batting order, it appears that South Africa will look to score so many runs that even the relatively green bowling attack can defend their score.
Despite their lack of T20 overall success, the Bangladesh team is coming off a seven-wicket win over Pakistan in its most recent outing on April 24, and skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has pledged that his team will play “fearless” cricket against their more formidable visitors.
“T20 cricket is about guts, freedom, and how you use your head… There is pressure but the only way out is to think about doing well, stay positive and fearless,” Mortaza said. “Obviously they have a couple of batsmen like A.B. de Villiers who can change the game but they are also human beings. If we feel scared then it’s good to sit at home.”
There are a few options to watch the South Africa vs. Bangladesh First T20 International live online. Willow TV has a live YouTube feed at this link, and also at this link. BTV, the government-run TV network, is scheduled to broadcast the match, with a live online stream available at this link. Pakistan network Star Sports is also planning to stream the match at this link. Finally, CricHD carries the live stream here.
[Image: Scott Barbour/Getty Images]
