SA in control with considerable lead on the second day in Potchefstroom
South Africa held a considerable lead of 369 runs at the close of play on day two of the first Test having rattled Bangladesh with three wickets after they declared at tea.
Bangladesh reached stumps on 127/3 after 34 overs in their chase.
Proteas captain Faf du Plessis cleverly declared on 496/3 to prevent key Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Igbal from taking his place at the top as he was off the field for 49 minutes before the tea break according to the rules.
The ingenious move wrecked havoc with Bangladesh’s batting plans as they started their innings without their star man and lost the wickets of Imrul Kayes‚ Liton Das and captain Mushfiqur Rahim from the bowling of Kagiso Rabada‚ Morne Morkel and Keshav Maharaj.
Rahim was lucky to have lasted longer in the game as he was dropped twice while on six and fifteen by Dean Elgar at slip from the bowling of Maharaj.
Igbal‚ who is a regular opener for the Tigers‚ could have helped the Tigers to lay a foundation in their mission of chasing this mammoth score of 496.
The first wicket to fall for Bangladesh was of Kayes when he was caught by Aiden Markram at gully from the bowling of Rabada after six overs and Das followed a few overs later from a beauty by Morkel.
Das nicked the ball that he had no business in attacking and it went the direction of Amla at first slip from where he claimed a simple catch as Bangladesh lost their second wicket.
After the early loss of Kayes and Das‚ Haque Mominul and Rahim embarked on a rebuilding mission and they put together a partnership of 67 runs as the South African bowlers failed to find a breakthrough late in the afternoon.
A break finally arrived when Rahim departed shortly before five o’clock when the ball took an inside edge on to his pads and the safe hands of Markram from the bowling of Maharaj.
With about eight overs of play remaining in the day‚ Bangladesh opted against a night watchman and introduced Igbal who was sitting on 22 runs at stumps.
He will continue the rebuilding job with Mominul‚ who was on 28.
After 25 overs‚ Du Plessis introduced debutant Andile Phehlukwayo and he started his Test career positively with a maiden over but he ended the day without any wicket after two overs with four runs.
Before the declaration‚ Proteas opener Dean Elgar suffered personal misfortune as he became the 10th batsman in history and the first South African to be dismissed on 199 runs in Test cricket.
The other wicket to fall for South Africa was that of Amla who was dismissed in the third ball after lunch for 137 off 200 balls after a knock that included seventeen boundaries and one maximum.
When South Africa declared on 496/3 captain Faf du Plessis and Bavuma were loking solid on the crease on respective scores of 26 and 31 and their partnership was standing on 51. - TimesLIVE