Watch cricket video highlights of South Africa tour of Bangladesh 2024. First test between Bangladesh and South Africa. Venue of the match will be Mirpur.
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On day two, seven balls after bringing out the light meter for the first time, the umpires called the game off due to poor lighting. If that seemed a little sudden, a disputed call by the third umpire added drama to what turned out to be the final delivery of the day. Mahmudul Hasan Joy, on 38, opted to slip out of the crease to Dane Piedt, who missed the ball with a reckless swing. The ball bounced quite a bit, and wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne caught it in front of his right shoulder and swept the bails off.
The TV umpire reviewed many replays and determined Mahmudul was not out – the bat was behind the line but in the air, and it appeared to have risen after being grounded once. Verreynne’s look indicated how tight it was. The day belonged to Verreynne, who scored his second Test century in the afternoon. That, together with Wiaan Mulder’s maiden half-century and Piedt’s resilience at No. 10, propelled South Africa to 308, despite being 108 for 6 at one point.
With a 202-run lead in the first innings, Kagiso Rabada struck twice early in the second innings to put Bangladesh at 4 for 2, but Mahmudul, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Mushfiqur Rahim rallied. For the second time in as many days, Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque scored single digits in the opening four overs, as Rabada pulled plenty of speed and bounce from the new ball. His wickets came from back-of-a-length deliveries. In the third over, he got one to nip Shadman, who inside-edged to short leg, where Tony de Zorzi made a quick catch to his left.
Three balls later, Mominul went defending but received an outside edge to third slip, where Mulder dived low to save a diving ball. Mahmudul and Shanto added 55 to temporarily rebuild before Keshav Maharaj caught Shanto in ahead. Maharaj received a full delivery to turn in from outside off, and Shanto, who had expanded his stance in preparation for defence, was struck on his rear leg, which was dragging towards off. Mushfiqur then produced an entertaining 31 off 26 deliveries in an unbroken stand of 42 with Mahmudul to prevent no further damage, but Bangladesh finished the day 101 runs behind South Africa.
The edge South Africa had was due to Verreynne. He swept every other ball that came his way, and when he did miss, Litton Das stumped him. South Africa’s innings finished at 308, although Verreynne had already reached his hundred. He required just 144 balls to score 114, becoming only the third wicketkeeper-batsman from his country to reach a Test century in Asia. Fittingly, Taijul Islam’s paddle sweep in the 86th over provided the benchmark. Verreynne’s two sixes came after he reached three figures: one was a slog-sweep off the wicketless Nayeem Hasan, while the other was a pull off Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Just before that, Mehidy broke a tedious ninth-wicket partnership of 66. Piedt, who batted steadily, poked and pushed his way to 32 before being caught in front of the 87th delivery he faced. It turned in, and he was given out on the field. Piedt examined and returned the umpire’s call. And soon after Verreynne’s second six, Mehidy slowed the ball enough to stump him. Earlier, the overnight partnership of Verreynne and Mulder reached 119 for seven wickets. The surface appeared to have settled perfectly for batting on the second morning, with little evident turn offered to Taijul.
Verreynne seemed especially confident against Hasan Mahmud, who had started the day with Taijul, pushing the pacer beyond mid-on for three and clipping and driving him for boundaries. Taijul then had Mulder poke, but the outer edge fell short of slipping. Mulder’s delicate hands and the surface’s slowness both contributed to this. Mulder and Verreynne adjusted to the pitch and handled Taijul and Nayeem’s spin with ease. Despite Nayeem’s occasional tendency to turn the ball in, both hitters employed the sweep and reverse sweep well.
That was due to their taking a decent stride forward to reach the delivery pitch and playing their shots confidently. On the second morning, they played 38 sweeps, or reverse sweeps, against spin and scored 59 runs, including seven boundaries and a six. Bangladesh had a guy close in at square leg to prevent the batters from scoring easily off the sweep, but Verreynne reached his half-century by drilling one to the man there. Mulder reached his half-century at the beginning of the 64th over, cutting Nayeem for four behind point.
Shanto had reintroduced Mahmud into the attack, and he delivered back-to-back hits. First, he pitched on a back-of-a-length outside off, keeping the ball on its line. Mulder attempted a blow but slipped wide. The following delivery, Mahmud went considerably fuller, turning the ball into Maharaj and defeating his defense to uproot off stump. But Piedt, who came in next, not only denied Mahmud a hat trick, but also irritated Bangladesh greatly.
