Bangladesh tasted their first defeat in the inaugural U-19 Women's Twenty20 World Cup as they went down to South Africa by five wickets in their Super Six encounter in Potchefstroom Saturday.
The young Tigresses had won all three games in the first hurdle to advance to the Super Six as group champions, but suffered a hiccup against the junior Proteas in their pursuit of a semi-final place.
Bangladesh must now win against the United Arab Emirates this Wednesday to have any chance of progressing to the last four.
Batting first, the girls in red and green posted 106 runs losing six wickets in their 20 overs; Sumaiya Akter top-scoring with 24.
Afia Prottasha and Shorna Akter chipped in with 21 and 20 respectively.
Kayla Reyneke bagged four wickets for South Africa.
In reply, the Africans reached their target with seven balls to spare, thanks primarily to a couple of 30s from player of the match Madison Landsman (37) and unbeaten batter Karabo Meso (32).
Rabeya Khan picked up three wickets for Bangladesh.
Earlier, the young Tigresses opened their group phase campaign with an impressive seven-wicket win against mighty Australia, which was Bangladesh women's first ever victory against an Australian side in any level or format.
Bangladesh then beat Sri Lanka by 10 runs before rounding off the group stage with a five-wicket victory against the USA.
Prior to the tournament, the girls in red and green had also won their two warm-up games, overcoming South Africa by seven runs (Duckworth/Lewis method) before defeating neighbors India by three runs.