South Africa reached 61 without loss on the third day of the first test after Bangladesh racked up its highest score against them on Thursday. The hosts finished on 326 in its first innings to move 78 runs clear but the Proteas openers cut short the deficit in a steely resolve.
Stiaan Van Zyl was batting on 33 with Dean Elagr on 27 before the rain forced a premature end to the day.
“Dean (Elgar) and Stiaan (Van Zyl) did a good job today evening to go unscathed in that last session especially with the bad light and the rain around,” said South Africa off-spinner Simon Harmer. “It’s been nice to see how much the wicket has deteriorated as a spinner. And I think we can’t look too far ahead in terms of target and stuff like that because there is still a lot of cricket left to be played in this game.”
Resuming the day 179-4, the hosts earlier rode on three half-centuries to gain the first innings advantage.
Mahmudullah scored the highest 67. Tamim Iqbal made 57 while liton Das brought up his maiden test fifty. It was the first time instance of three Bangladeshi making fifty plus against Proteas in Test cricket.
“The advantage is that they still couldn’t surpass our lead so if we bowl in planned way, we could dominate them,” litton Das said.
“It could have been good if we had taken few wickets today. That didn’t happen but still we are ahead of them. The wicket is tough to bat on. We have to bowl wicket to wicket because there is help for the bowlers.”
Bangladesh lost its captain Mushfiqur Rahim on 28 in the fifth over of the morning session. The initial lbw appeal by Dale Steyn was turned down but South Africa made a successful video review. Shakib Al Hasan and Das shared 82-run partnership then to ensure the hosts led South Africa in the first innings for only the second time in their nine-test history.
Just when it seemed Bangladesh would dominate the visitors, Shakib threw away his wicket by attempting a pull off offspinner Simon Harmer (3-105) to get a top-edge. JP Duminy completed a simple catch at short mid-wicket.
In his patient 47 off 114 balls, he hit four boundaries.
Trailing by 29 runs, Shakib’s dismissal raised South Africa’s hope of restricting Bangladesh to a limited lead.
Fast bowler Dale Steyn (3-78) then cleaned up the tail with a barrage of short balls and closed in on 400-wicket club.
Brief Scores
South Africa: 248 & 61/0 (Dean Elgar 28*, Stiaan van Zyl 33*) trail Bangladesh: 326 (Iqbal 57, Mahmudullah 67, litton Das 50, Shakib Al Hasan 47; Steyn 3/78, Harmer 3/105, Philander 2/40) by 17 runs.