stub Bangladesh Trails 106 and 101 (Mahmudul 38*, Mushfiqur 31*, Rabada 2-10) for 3 people south africa 308 (Verreynne 114, Mulder 54, Taijul 5-122, Mahmud 3-66, Mehidy 2-63) 101 runs.
After taking out the light meter for the first time on the second day, seven balls were drawn and the umpire pulled the plug on the game for the day due to poor lighting. If it was a somewhat sudden decision, the third umpire’s time-consuming decision added drama to what turned out to be the final delivery of the day.
Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque took single-digit scores within the first four overs for the second time in as many days as Rabada extracted ample pace and bounce with the new ball. His wicket came from a long delivery. In the third over, he poked Shadman, who edged inside at short leg, before Tony de Zorzi caught sharply to his left. Three balls later, Mominul went on the defensive but got an outside edge until third slip and Mulder got down low to catch a dipping ball.
Mahmudul and Shanto added 55 to briefly rebuild before Keshav Maharaj trapped Shanto in front. Maharaj took a full delivery outside off and Shanto, who had opened his stance to defend, was hit on the back leg as he was dragged backwards.
Mushfiqur hit an entertaining 31 off 26 deliveries in an unbroken 42 with Mahmudul to ensure there was no further damage, but Bangladesh still ended the day 101 runs behind South Africa.
Taijul allowed Mulder to stab him, but only enough to keep the outer edge from slipping. That had as much to do with Mulder playing with a soft hand as the slow pace of the surface. Mulder and Verreynne adapted to the pitch and did their job with composure against the spin of Taijul and Nayeem.
Both batsmen used sweeps and reverse sweeps to great effect, despite Nayeem turning the ball around quite a bit at times. That was because they took big steps forward to get to the spot of the delivery and played their shots with confidence. They played 38 sweeps (or reverse sweeps) against spin on the second morning and scored 59 runs, including 7 boundaries and a six.
Bangladesh deployed a man close to right-angle leg to prevent the batsmen scoring easily in the sweep, but Verreynne reached his half-century when he drilled one to man there. Mulder reached his half-century by cutting Nayeem four runs behind at the start of the 64th over.
Shanto brought Mahmud back into the attack and followed up with a series of strikes. First he threw the ball outside where it was holding the line. Mulder tried to throw a punch but ended up in a wide slip. The next ball, Mahmoud was much fuller, turning the ball over to Maharaj and hitting his fielding to draw the stumps.
However, Piet, who was next in line, not only denied Mahmood’s hat-trick but also irritated Bangladesh to no end.
Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo.
