SA vs BAN, 2nd Test, Day 2, Review: Visitors follow-on as South Africa aim for a 3-day finish

South Africa has taken full command over the second and final Test match of the series and are looking for a 3-day finish now. The visitors looked a pale shadow of themselves when they came out to bat after conceding a huge score. South African bowlers extracted a lot of bounce and movement from the pitch which looked flat when they were batting. Bangladesh now have a mountain to climb in the second innings as the hosts enforced a follow-on and now trail by 419 runs with 3 days to go in the Test match. The day was called off due to bad light when the visitors were 7/0 in their second essay.

Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar walked out to bat and it seemed that they had no intent whatsoever. Kagiso Rabada draw first blood by castling the latter and Duanne Olivier also looked threatening by picking the key wickets of Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim. Soon they were reduced to 65/6 and were in danger of being bowled out under 100. Though Litton Das looked class apart alone and played some classical shots on his way to 70 off just 77 deliveries. Eventually, they were bundled out for 147 as Rabada scalped a well-deserved five-wicket haul.

What happened earlier?

The start of the second day’s play was delayed due to persistent rain but when it resumed the fun continued as the batsmen enjoyed their stay in the middle. Bangladesh looked resigned to their fate from the word go and could not create any chances. There were also few fumbles in the field which proved they were only waiting for the declaration. Hashim Amla brought up his 28th Test century and went past the former cricketer Graeme Smith.

The skipper Faf Du Plessis too joined in the fun and scored a century as both added a humongous 247 runs for the third wicket. Finally, South Africa declared after adding some quick runs in the post-lunch session at the score of 573/4. Du Plessis remained unbeaten on 135 and Quinton De Kock on 28. The former scored his runs at the strike rate of almost 75 and hit 15 fours in his innings. Amla, on the other hand, was dismissed on 132 off just 163 balls with 17 hits to the fence.

For Bangladesh, Subashis Roy was the pick of the bowlers who scalped three wickets but conceded 118 runs. Apart from him, no bowler looked to threaten the top order of the opposition line-up. Although the result of the match is a foregone conclusion now, they have to show some fight in the second innings and score some runs to take some positives from the Test series.

Brief Scores

South Africa: 573/4d after 120 overs (A Markram 143, Du Plessis 135*, Amla 132, D Elgar 113); (S Roy 3/118)

Bangladesh: 147/10 & 7/0 (L Das 70); (K Rabada 5/33, D Olivier 3/40)