Bangladesh vs South Africa 1st Test: Verreynne’s Century and Rabada’s Double Strike Leave Bangladesh Struggling
Bangladesh vs South Africa 1st Test Report: Bangladesh trails by 101 runs with seven wickets remaining after Day 2 of the Test match
Kyle Verreynne’s incredible century gave South Africa the upper hand in a thrilling match between Bangladesh and South Africa on the second day of the first Test in Mirpur. At the end of play, Bangladesh was suffering at 101 for 3, behind by 101 runs, thanks to his knock and Kagiso Rabada’s early breakthroughs.
Key Performances and Match Scorecard
Bangladesh 106 and 101 for 3 (Mahmudul 38*, Mushfiqur 31*, Rabada 2-10) trail South Africa 308 (Verreynne 114, Mulder 54, Taijul 5-122, Mahmud 3-66, Mehidy 2-63) by 101 runs.
Match Analysis
On the second day, the umpires stopped play seven balls after they had initially brought out the light meter due to poor light. If that seemed a little sudden, the final delivery of the day was made even more dramatic by a slow-moving third-umpire judgment.
With his reckless swing, 38-year-old Mahmudul Hasan Joy missed the ball after choosing to skip out of the crease to Dane Piedt. Kyle Verreynne, the wicketkeeper, caught the ball in front of his right shoulder after it bounced a good deal and ripped the bails off. After seeing several replays, the TV umpire determined that Mahmudul was not out since the bat was in the air but behind the line, and it appeared to have lifted after being grounded once. Verreynne’s face conveyed the tightness of it.
Verreynne’s second Test century in the afternoon session made the day his own. Despite being 108 for 6 at one point, Piedt’s fight from No. 10 and Wiaan Mulder’s first half-century helped propel South Africa to 308 overall. Kagiso Rabada scored twice early in the second innings to put Bangladesh at 4 for 2, giving them a 202-run advantage after the first innings. However, Mahmudul, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Mushfiqur Rahim rallied.
Rabada extracted plenty of pace and bounce with the new ball, causing Mominul Haque and Shadman Islam to be dismissed for single-figure scores within the first four overs for the second time in as many days. The deliveries that took his wickets were back-of-a-length.
Tony de Zorzi made a quick catch to his left after Shadman inside-edged to short leg after he got one to sneak into him in the third over. Mulder dove low to catch a dipping ball when Mominul went on the defensive and was given an outside edge to third slip three balls later.
Before Shanto was stranded in front by Keshav Maharaj, Mahmudul and Shanto added 55 to rebuild temporarily. Shanto, who had widened his stance in an attempt to resist, was hit on his back leg, which was dragging off, and Maharaj received a full delivery to turn in from outside off.
In order to prevent any more damage, Mushfiqur then struck an impressive 31 off 26 deliveries in an uninterrupted 42-run partnership with Mahmudul, but Bangladesh still finished the day 101 runs behind South Africa.
It was Verreynne who gave South Africa the advantage. Litton Das stumped him as he missed a ball after sweeping every other one that came his way. Verreynne had already rushed to his hundred by the time South Africa’s innings ended at 308 runs. He became just the third wicketkeeper-batter from his nation to reach a Test hundred in Asia, scoring 114 off of just 144 balls. In the 86th over, Taijul Islam hit a paddle sweep that set the record, which was fitting.
After reaching the three-figure milestone, Verreynne hit two sixes: a pull off Mehidy Hasan Miraz and a slog-sweep off the wicketless Nayeem Hasan. Mehidy had just ended an exasperating nine-wicket stand of 66.
Before being stuck in front of the 87th delivery he had encountered, Piedt, who batted steadily, pushed and shoved his way to 32. He was given out on the field after it was handed in. It returned an umpire’s call after Piedt reviewed. Additionally, Mehidy slowed the ball down to have Verreynne stumped right after his second six.
Mulder and Verreynne, the overnight duo, had earlier taken their sixth wicket to 119. On the second morning, the surface appeared to have settled well for batting, and Taijul didn’t seem to have a turn. Against Hasan Mahmud, who had begun the day with Taijul, Verreynne seemed especially confident as she pushed the pacer past mid-on for three and then clipped and drove him for boundaries.
After then, Taijul had Mulder prodding, but the outside edge failed to slip. That was due as much to Mulder’s use of gentle hands as it was to the surface’s slowness. Mulder and Verreynne smoothly handled the task against Taijul and Nayeem’s spin after adjusting to the pitch.
Although Nayeem occasionally turned the ball in noticeably, both batters made excellent use of the sweep and the reverse sweep. That depended on their playing their shots with confidence and taking a solid step forward to reach the delivery pitch. On the second morning, they played 38 sweeps, or reverse sweeps, against spin and scored 59 runs, including a six and seven boundaries.
To keep the hitters from getting easy runs off the sweep, Bangladesh put a man close in at square leg, but Verreynne reached his half-century by hitting a ball to the guy there. At the beginning of the 64th over, Mulder reached his half-century by cutting Nayeem for four behind point.
After bringing Mahmud back into the fray, Shanto delivered consecutive strikes. The ball held its line when he first pitched on a back-of-a-length outside off. Mulder attempted a punch but lost the fight. Mahmud went considerably fuller with the next delivery, turning it into Maharaj and defeating his defense to uproot off stump.
However, Piedt, who came in next, greatly irritated Bangladesh in addition to denying Mahmud a hat-trick.
