South Africa v Bangladesh, 1st Test, Day 1 - 5 Talking Points

South Africa is off to a sensational start in the first Test against Bangladesh, thanks to some wonderful renditions from Aiden Makram and Dean Elgar. Elgar scored a brilliant hundred but Makram fell just short of three figures. Hashim Amla walked in at number 3 as he always does and scored a brilliant half-century as South Africa finished day 1 at 298 for the loss of one wicket.

The visitors failed to exert any considerable amount of pressure on the Proteas as they managed to play out the first day without much fuss. South Africa did manage to get under their skin and it was a walk in the park for them. Spinners and Pacers, all the frontline bowlers were taken for plenty of runs and Mushfiqur Rahim is left with a lot of thinking to do on day 2.

Elgar and Amla added 102 runs for the second wicket as the visitors were left cold and dry at the end of day 1. For the South African fans, it was a fabulous day watching their top order dismantle the opponents and with some big names still left to come, a huge score is definitely on cards.

Here are five talking points of the day.

1. Masterclass from Elgar and Makram

No matter how good the pitch is for batting, you have to show some resilience and Aiden Makram and Dean Elgar were terrific on the day. The duo added 196 runs for the first wicket and the bowlers were palpably frustrated failing to get the better of these players. Makram, who was playing his first Test, played some lovely shots throughout his innings and Elgar wasn’t far behind as well. These both players made batting look ridiculously easy and all the efforts from the bowlers looked quite lackluster.

2. Below par performance from the bowlers

Bangladeshi bowlers failed to pick up even a single wicket on day 1. The only wicket that came in the day was in the form of a run-out and though Mushfiqur tried 7 bowling options and yet, he failed to reap any rewards. All the frontline bowlers like Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur and Taskin went for a lot of runs and this hurt them big time.

3. Makram falls 3 short of a debut hundred

Interestingly, two batsmen ran themselves out in the nineties on Thursday. In the Sri Lanka-Pakistan game, Dimuth Karunaratne ran himself out on 93 and here, Aiden Makram fell prey to a bad judgment from Dean Elgar. Elgar called for a quick single and when Makram was halfway down the pitch, he declined the single and the latter didn’t have enough time to get back. It was heartbreaking for Makram as he walked back after scoring a brilliant 97 off 152 balls.

4. Sabbir misses a costly half-chance

It’d be hard to call this a drop, but Sabbir Rahman did come close to picking the second wicket of the day. Amla hit it hard down the ground and a diving Rahman got his fingers to it, but couldn’t hold on to the catch. To add insult to injury, the ball went for a four and skipper Mushfiqur was left in shambles.

5. Amla gets to his fifty with a six

After Makram fell in a heartbreaking manner, Hashim Amla walked in and played some delightful shots. He played some flamboyant drives through the offside and made a mockery of the bowlers. But the best part of his innings was the six which he hit off Mehidy Hasan to get to his half-century. We generally don’t see Amla going for a six whilst approaching a landmark but one always has to expect the unexpected from this 34-year-old batting genius.