By shattering several T20 World Cup records with Rilee Rossouw and Quinton de Kock, South Africa exacts revenge on Bangladesh.

In their T20 World Cup Super 12 Group 2 match against Bangladesh on Thursday at the Sydney Cricket Ground, South Africa made an excellent effort, putting the disappointment of the washout against Zimbabwe a few days earlier behind them. Rilee Rossouw and Quinton de Kock led the assault after Taskin Ahmed hit South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma early in the opening over.

After the third over of their inning, South Africa’s match started to turn in their favor. Taskin attempted a couple of no-balls, but de Kock successfully connected on one of them for a six to take the lead. Rossouw joined him shortly after, and the two aggressive left-handers immediately started to maximize the powerplay. They scored 63 after the first six overs.

When Shakib Al Hasan was hit for 21 runs in the eleventh over, the momentum changed once again. Rossouw hit the Bangladeshi captain for two sixes and a four.

Rossouw was the first player to achieve his half-century off 30 balls, and De Kock quickly joined him. The two persisted in attacking the Bangladeshi bowlers, pummeling them from all sides. Rossouw and De Kock, therefore, formed the best wicket-sharing partnership in the annals of the T20 World Cup. With their 168-run partnership, they broke the previous mark that had been held by Sri Lankan legends Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who had scored 166 runs for the second wicket against the West Indies during the 2010 World Cup.

In the first T20 World Cup, Herschelle Gibbs and Justin Kemp combined for 120* runs, which established a South African record for the best partnership ever. The ball was thrown 11 times over the barrier and 14 times to it by the team. But in the 15th over, De Kock’s innings were done.

Tristan Stubbs, the substitute batter, exited the game soon after, and as Rossouw neared his century, the Proteas innings slowed a bit.

Rossouw hammered the ball for a superb six before Shakib ended the show, having taken 52 balls to achieve his century. The first player from a complete team to score consecutive hundreds in T20Is was Rossouw. In a T20 World Cup, he also scored the highest point total by a South African. A South African batsman also scored 100 runs for the first time in a T20 World Cup match.

On a two-paced pitch, South Africa lost momentum in the last overs and almost missed the 200-run mark after initially seeming poised to score 220-230 runs. In the end, they scored 205/5, making it the highest total achieved in this World Cup so far.