South African captain Hashim Amla plays a shot as his Bangladesh counterpart Mushfiqur Rahim looks on during their tri-nation Twenty20 tournament match at the Harare Sports Club on Tuesday. — AFP photo

After batting disappointments in the first match, Bangladeshi bowlers suffered a nightmare in their second successive defeat in the Twenty20 Triangular Series, this time to South Africa by 39 runs at Harare on Tuesday.
Opting to bat first, South African skipper Hashim Amla, 88 not out from 53 balls, led his side from the front as they made a mockery out of the Bangladeshi bowling on their way to a massive 209-3 before Bangladesh were restricted to 170-8.
Amla and Richard Levi (37 off 21 balls) were on attacking mode right from the first over as the latter slammed a four and a six off Mashrafee bin Murtaza to pick up 12 runs.
Levi’s destructive style fetched two fours and a six in the second over bowled by left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak to put the Bangladeshis under immense pressure.
Pacer Abul Hasan replaced the veteran Mashrafee, but the result was the same as he too went for 12 runs.
Mushfiqur Rahim had no option but to change the bowlers as left- armer Elias Sunny was the fourth bowler in as many overs to come on to bowl and unlike his compatriots he had a good start giving away only a single.
However, Mashrafee was brought back in the fifth over to let the run-flow continue as he conceded 15 runs only to be followed by Sunny with a 13-run over.
The Proteas raced to 69-0 in six overs just when Levi spooned a slower from Ziaur Rahman in the seventh over which was caught by the bowler himself to produce the much needed breakthrough for the Tigers.
Amla joined by Colin Ingram (29 from 22 balls) milked the Bangladeshi bowling as they kept the singles and doubles active while hitting the bad balls for boundaries and in
this occasion the Tigers bowled at least two lose balls every over.
Abdur Razzak went for 12 runs in his second and 11th over of the match as South Africa reached 100 for the loss of a wicket.
Despite Ingram being run out by Mushfiq in the 13th over, Bangladeshi bowlers looked helpless with Amla hitting them all over the ground.
Mashrafee claimed the wicket off Albie Morkel in the penultimate over before JP Duminy (23 runs from seven balls) came in and took 22 runs from the last over by Abul.
In reply, Anamul Haque (1), replacing injured Tamim Iqbal, departed early while Mohammad Ashraful had a positive start to the innings hitting three fours in the first two overs.
Bangladesh experienced a batting collapse when Ashraful (33) got out with the scoreboard reading 48-2 and were soon reduced to 49-4.
Mushfiq held the innings together with an unbeaten 50 run knock while Mahmudullah was the only other batsman who provided him support with a 23-ball 34.