SA v BAN, 1st Test, Day 2, Review: South Africa on top after tons from Dean Elgar and Amla

South Africa piled on the agony on the second day of the Test on the visitors as Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla pummelled them into submission. The hosts declared on a whopping 496/3 at the stroke of tea and snuffed the top 3 batsmen of Bangladesh in the final session. Though, the left-handed duo of Tamim Iqbal and Mominul Haque survived the final hour which allowed them to settle down on the day finally. They finished the day on 127/3 as Mominul remained unbeaten on 28 and Tamim on 22.

Earlier in the day, Elgar and Amla continued to dominate the hapless bowlers as the placid track did not offer anything to them. Both of them looked in utter ease as the latter scored a magnificent century, his 27th in Test format, before lunch. His drives especially were pleasing to the eyes but the fun was stopped by Shafiul Islam straight away after the resumption in the second session as Amla shuffled across and slashed at the wide delivery only to hole out in the deep. However, there were barely any celebrations by the Tigers as it took 117 overs for their bowling attack to earn their first wicket as Aiden Markram was dismissed run-out on the first day. Interestingly, Hashim Amla became the 70000th Test victim in the history of the longest format.

Elgar joins the 199 club

Dean Elgar concentrated extremely hard right from day 1 and looked unflustered in his marathon innings which lasted for almost 5 sessions. He had completed his 9th Test century on the opening day of the series and looked assured in the middle for his maiden double-century. All of his teammates were standing on the balcony of their dressing room waiting to celebrate the occasion. But all were left frozen and hiding their emotions for the left-hander when he tried to eke out a pull of wide delivery of Mustafizur Rahman and could only top edge it to the mid-wicket. Nobody could believe what transpired out in the middle as Elgar himself was left shocked and then everyone stood up for a superlative knock by the 30-year-old. He hit 15 fours and three sixes on his way to 199.

After the fall of the opener, the hosts lost the steam in the innings as the skipper decided not to continue beyond the second session as they declared on a huge score of 496/3. Temba Bavuma scored an unbeaten 31 as Faf Du Plessis made 26 runs. Now, it was the time of their bowlers to pick some quick wickets as the tired legs of the openers came out to bat after fielding for 146 overs.

Bangladesh surprise everyone

Everyone was left wondering when Liton Das and Imrul Kayes strode out to the middle as Tamim Iqbal, the regular opener was kept reserved in the middle order. The new opening pair didn’t work though as Kayes continued to struggle in red ball cricket and was snaffled by ever so consistent Kagiso Rabada. Das was impressive in his short innings but could not score more than 25 and gifted his wicket to Morne Morkel.

In the absence of Shakib Al Hasan, the skipper Mushfiqur Rahim walked out at number 4 to steady things out. He counter-attacked the bowlers as Mominul played cautiously at the other end. But Rahim once again failed to convert an enterprising start and gave his wicket to the left arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. He made 44 off 57 balls and was impressive during his stay in the middle.

However, Tamim Iqbal finally walked out to bat at 5 and did the most difficult job by weathering the storm in the final few minutes of the day. Visitors need him and Mominul to stay for the major part of day 3 if they are hoping to reach even close to the total of the hosts.

Brief Scores:

South Africa: 496/3 decl (Dean Elgar 199, Hashim Amla 137; Shafiul Islam 1/74)

Bangladesh: 127/3 (Mushfiqur Rahim 44, Mominul Haque 28*; Kagiso Rabada 1/23)