Litton lifts Bangladesh up, South Africa look secure, 1st Test Day 3 Review

Litton lifts Bangladesh up, South Africa look secure, 1st Test Day 3 Review:

Day 3 of the first test between Bangladesh and South Africa in Chittagong started with Bangladesh chasing South Africa’s 248, trailing by 69 runs at the score of 174/4 on the 67^th over after rain stopped play. The day saw some records, as Litton Das scored his first half century, Shakib-Al-Hasan reached his highest individual score of 47 against the Proteas and Bangladesh’s highest total against the visitors. The sixth wicket partnership between Liton and Shakib is one to learn from. The day began well for the hosts as Mushfiqur Rahim did not miss a chance to score runs from the old ball as well as Steyn.

Soon, it was time for Steyn to take a brief break but he was successful to make his first notch of the series where he sent a full ball to Mushfiqur who was given lbw after the appeal was denied and they opted for a review which was in the visitor’s favour. While on the other side, Litton was playing defensive. After the end of 81 overs the new ball was shared between the spells of Philander and Morkel. Later on succeeded by Steyn and Harmer where Litton played with exceptional footwork and placements. A drive of the ground in Steyn’s delivery before lunch was evident of his confidence and Bangladesh’s control over the game so far.

Amla did not wait too long to hand over the ball to his off spinners, JP Duminy delivered his first ball just after the lunch when the ball was just 13 overs old. Shakib and Litton took time to settle in and started on to play them comfortably. Though, they were challenged with short balls which made Shakib impatient when his fifty was in sight, he top-edged a short ball to give Duminy an easy catch at short mid-wicket on Harmer’s delivery.

The responsibility now rested on Litton’s shoulders who was left with the tail-enders to back him up. Just in his second international test he played an experienced innings with caution. He was seen rotating strike and was aggressive when needed with classic shots, his 101 balls’ innings was worth the watch. The entry of Mohammad Shahid was rather a blast as he scored only in boundaries during Harmer’s spell. He scored 4 boundaries off Harmer’s over where, one was a lucky outside edge and the other three over mid-off mid-wicket and straight down the ground respectively. His attacking batting was short-lived as he lost his wicket slogging Philander ending on the mid-wicket where Van Zyl took a decent catch.

His flawless innings ended with a catch on a sharp off-break and an inside edge on his pads, the wicket keeper took the catch and broke the stumps both at the same time. Things got nasty when Proteas were falling to grab the last wickets and Steyn warned the hosts by landing a short delivery on Mustafizur’s helmet, after which he pocketed two wickets Taijul was caught at gully and Mustafizur gave away his wicket at point. The Bangladesh innings came to an end with a lead of 78 runs.

One more wicket will register Steyn’s name in the 400 wickets-club. South African’s second innings was a more sensible business, determined with techniques and composed heads by both the openers, who put up the score of 61/0 as the third session ended early due to bad light and rain. The second innings has boosted the confidence of the South African team. With both the openers intact Elgar and Van Zyl still at the crease on 28 and 33 runs respectively, the visitors have all the chances to give a lead and bowl out their opponents with two days remaining.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh- 326/10 116.1 overs (Mahmudullah 67; Steyn 3-78)

South Africa- 61/0 21.1 overs (Dean Elgar 28, Stain Van Zyl 33) trail by 17 runs