DURBAN: Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj took seven wickets as South Africa made light work of bowling Bangladesh out for 53 in 19 overs in their second innings to claim a 220-run victory in the first Test at Kingsmead on Monday.

It was the lowest Test innings total at Kingsmead, less than the 66 India managed in 1996.

Bangladesh had been set a target of 274 for the win but resumed on 11 for three and were bowled out inside 55 minutes.

Maharaj took 7-32 and fellow spinner Simon Harmer 3-21 to complete a dominant performance for the home side, who were missing five first team regulars that have opted to play in the Indian Premier League, including their entire frontline pace attack.

“It is pretty special,” South Africa captain Dean Elgar said at the post-match presentation. “It was hard graft in conditions we are not used to and was a challenge for a young bowling unit.”

He had particular praise for the spin duo, who took 14 wickets between them.

“They are extremely skilled and developed in their game. They are pushing each other in the nets and it’s great to see how they operate. They are extremely competitive, that is their nature.”

The experienced Bangladesh wicket-keeper/batter Mushfiqur Rahim was dismissed in the first over of the day, leg before wicket to Maharaj when he played down the wrong line of a ball which hurried through straight.

Liton Das fell to a soft shot in Maharaj’s next over, flicking a simple catch to Harmer at wide mid-on, and Maharaj made it three wickets in three overs when he bowled Yasir Ali with a ball which spun past the edge of Yasir’s defensive push.

The rest of the batting crumbled with only Najmul Hossain putting up any significant resistance, scoring 26 off 52 balls.

The two spinners bowled unchanged through the innings. They shared the new ball in fading light on Sunday evening and Elgar continued with the pair on Monday.

Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque appeared to be baffled by the way his batters collapsed against a style of bowling they are used to.

“We are used to playing spin in Bangladesh and we also know that (in) Durban the spinners work,” he said.

Mominul said Bangladesh had batted “really well” in the first innings when they made 298 but had played too many loose shots in the second innings and had failed to build partnerships.

He said losing three wickets for 11 runs in the closing overs on Sunday had been crucial.

“We didn’t look for the result, we just tried to play the last session. Unfortunately we lost three wickets.”

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 367 BANGLADESH (1st Innings) 298 SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings) 204 BANGLADESH (2nd Innings, overnight): Mahmudul Hasan b Maharaj 4 Shadman Islam c Petersen b Harmer 0 Najmul Hossain st Verreynne b Harmer 26 Mominul Haque lbw b Maharaj 2 Mushfiqur Rahim lbw b Maharaj 0 Liton Das c Harmer b Maharaj 2 Yasir Ali b Maharaj 5 Mehidy Hasan c Petersen b Harmer 0 Taskin Ahmed c Mulder b Maharaj 14 Khaled Ahmed c Williams b Maharaj 0 Ebadot Hossain not out 0 TOTAL (all out, 19 overs) 53 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4 (Shadman), 2-6 (Mahmudul), 3-8 (Mominul), 4-12 (Mushfiqur), 5-15 (Liton), 6-25 (Yasir), 7-33 (Mehidy), 8-50 (Najmul), 9-51 (Khaled). BOWLING: Maharaj 10-0-32-7, Harmer 9-3-21-3. RESULT: South Africa won by 220 runs. SERIES: South Africa lead the two-match series 1-0.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2022