A day that both began and ended with a wicket for South Africa belonged to Bangladesh as skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto’s brave gamble to bat first on a bouncy, seaming Wanderers surface against Kagiso Rabada and a lethal pace attack paid off on Sunday.
Visiting sides from the subcontinent rarely opt to bat first in South Africa, widely regarded as one of the toughest places to bat against the red ball.
The Bangladesh side had arrived in the country less than a week ago after losing a home Test series to West Indies 1-0 and played no warm-up beforehand. The visitors looked undercooked and had every reason to avoid batting first against the Proteas attack that dismantled Australia just last month.
The South African commentators couldn’t hide their surprise when Shanto chose to bat, and within nine overs, it looked like they had a point.
Mahfijul Islam Robin, on debut, nicked the very first ball of his Test career to Marco Jansen. Mominul Haque followed for a duck. Shanto got off the mark with a boundary, then missed an inswinger and saw his stumps rearranged.
Bangladesh were 22-3, all three wickets falling to Rabada.
But Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Towhid Hridoy refused to relent. They soaked up the pressure against the new ball, rode their luck at times and added 99 for the fourth wicket.
Tanzid raised his fifty off 79 balls at the cusp of Lunch. But soon after the break, Rabada ripped one through his defences on 67.
The very next ball, Mushfiqur Rahim pushed at a full one and was caught at slip. From 121-3 to 121-5, with Rabada completing his 18th five-wicket haul in Tests.
A batting collapse seemed in the offing, but a different story unfolded.
The visitors had packed eight batting options, seven specialists plus all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz at No. 8, a contingency plan against the possibility of losing wickets against the new ball.
The extra batting option in hand gave Hridoy and Litton Das the licence to play their own game. And when the ball got older, the bounce softened, the runs began to flow.
By Tea, Bangladesh were 184-5. After it, the pair added 206 together.
Hridoy brought up his hundred off 194 balls, drilling nine fours on the way, and kept going in the same unflustered style.
Litton, who has had an in-and-out run in the side due to injury troubles, looked composed, rotating the strike against the quicks and punishing anything loose from the others. Twelve fours came off his bat.
“They bowled very well with the new ball, challenging in these conditions, after old ball came, it was easier to bat,” Litton said after the day’s play, who is unbeaten on 92.
He credited his partner, too.
“The discipline with which Hridoy left the ball gave me more confidence. We just talked about how long we can bat. Just rotate the strike against the pacers.”
It was a plan in plain words, and it worked for 281 balls.
Cruelly, the day’s last delivery undid some of it. Hridoy, on 137, was trapped LBW by Jansen with a yorker, and a review could not save him.
Even after his dismissal, 327-6 on a Wanderers pitch that had Bangladesh on their knees before the first hour was out is a fine day’s work. Rabada finished with 5-51, a heroic effort, but the visitors have set the terms.
It also sits oddly with how Bangladesh batted against West Indies, when they shot themselves in the foot by preparing a spinning track in the Dhaka Test, which they lost by eight wickets.
The current team looks more comfortable against pace and bounce than grip and turn.
Bangladesh find themselves in the driving seat after the first day, a position they owe to Hridoy, Litton, and Tanzid’s resilience with the bat as well as their captain’s brave call at the toss.