After a shoddy show in the first innings, Bangladesh appears to have got their ideas right in the second – but can they make a game of it from here? That’s the question.
Batting had already proved tricky on a surface in Mirpur, where 16 wickets fell on Day 1 of the first Test. Bangladesh’s hopes of bundling out South Africa quickly were dashed by brilliant batting from wicket-keeper Verreynne, who scored a masterclass 114.
Although it wasn’t a deliberate strategy, Verreynne and other South African batters employed sweep and reverse sweeps as a weapon against the spinners.
“I don’t believe the sweep shot has received any additional attention. I have spent much time working on it in opposition to spinners. It isn’t actually unique to any one subcontinent. Back home, I would try to play it against spin as often as possible. It’s kind of what I’m trying to do since I had a lot of spin out there today,” Verreynne said.
“I think Wiaan Mulder and I, as well as the other batters, chatted this morning. We spoke to batting coach Ashy P (Ashwell Prince) about how we will do things. There was no specific emphasis put on playing the sweep. It was more just about how we back our options. Make sure we try to score and not go into our shells. We tried to play positively, get into better positions,” he said.
Bangladesh used a similar method after an initial burst from Kagiso Rabada where he picked up two wickets in his first over. By the end of the day, Bangladesh were better placed than in the first innings, finishing on 101/3 with a deficit of as many runs.
Rabada had reduced Bangladesh to 4-2 and ran the risk of another collapse, but Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mahmudul Hasan Joy stitched a vital third-wicket stand to avoid adding to an unflattering statistic – Bangladesh have lost three or more wickets for less than 50 runs in 15 of the 38 innings since 2022.
The two batters played positively, bringing out the sweep shot against Keshav Maharaj, who, though, had the last laugh with Najmul’s wicket. Mushfiqur Rahim, who became the first batter from his country to reach 6000 Test runs on his way to an unbeaten 26-ball 31 played some elegant shots and his trademark reverse-sweep to entertain the sparse crowd.
Mahmudul, the only batsman to bat with any real purpose in the first innings, remained focused on his game because he didn’t want to lose his wicket by making a lot of fancy strokes. However, he also joined the celebration, hitting five boundaries en route to 38 runs.
In order to salvage the Test, pacer Hasan Mahmud emphasized that their batsmen must assume greater responsibility. “Getting out is not in our control, but I would say we can concentrate a bit more and focus on getting set at the wicket,” Hasan added. “It’s frustrating, but the batters feel that they can make a comeback the next day,” he stated.
“Joy and Mushfiq bhai are batting well, and they will try to bat as long as possible and build a good partnership,” he stated. “If we can post a total over 200 runs, I think we can do it (win),” he stated,