Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Towhid Hridoy fought back after Kagiso Rabada’s early outburst as Bangladesh head into Lunch on 91-3 on Day 1 of the first Test at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Opener Tanzid completed his half-century in the final over of the session with a four, and is unbeaten on 51, while Hridoy is not out on 23 after Rabada struck thrice in his opening spell to reduce the visitors to 22-3.

Tanzid has so far struck nine fours and his fourth-wicket stand with Hridoy has yielded 69 runs so far.

Earlier, Bangladesh got off to a poor start after skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto made the brave call of opting to bat first.

The trouble began from the very first ball of the match, when debutant opener Mahfijul Islam Robin was caught behind in his very first ball in Test cricket. Robin pushed at a ball which could’ve easily left alone and was caught at slip.

The experience Mominul Haque then also departed for a duck – his fifth duck in 11 Test innings against the Proteas – getting caught behind.

Skipper Shanto got off the mark with a boundary and looked reasonably comfortable at the bouncy track, before missing the line of an incoming delivery from Rabada and saw his off-stump cartwheeling.

From then on, Tanzid and Hridoy soaked in the pressure and ensured no more damage.

Tanzid rode his luck a bit, getting a couple of boundaries off outside edges. He survived another chance in the 19th over, when a leading edge off his bat flew just over Marques Ackerman at point off the bowling of Marco Jansen.

In the next over, Hridoy nicked a ball through the slip cordon against Wian Mulder in the penultimate over before the break, which went for a four.

On a seaming surface and against a lethal pace attack, the undercooked Bangladesh side that came into the Test without a warm-up game needs as much luck as it gets.

The duo looked more and more comfortable as the session progressed and the visitors would bank on them to carry on from where they left off before Lunch.