BAN vs SA, 2nd Test: Match preview

Mustazifur – The man in form

The South Africans have not lost an away series since 2006, when under a relatively inexperienced captain, a rebuilding side lost 2-0 to the then perhaps invincible Australians. The Proteas were even trounced in the limited-overs leg of that tour, losing 5-3.

They find themselves in an eerily familiar situation now, having failed to adapt to alien conditions, and having lost the ODI series 2-1. Bangladesh are high on confidence after dominating most of the rain-drenched draw at Z. A. Choudhury stadium in Chittagong, and will look to continue their prolonged run of home-turf domination, stretching back to last winter, when they whitewashed the visiting Zimbabweans.

The visitors will want to maintain their spotless record against Bangladesh in Tests, and also win the Test series with the second match at Mirpur. But the Bangladeshis are continuing to make history in 2015, and after drawing their first Tests against both Pakistan and South Africa this year, appear almost ominously confident, and if South Africa are to win, they will have to earn it.

Rain, though, has and will continue to wreak havoc in this series, as was the case with the India series and raises the larger issue of the scheduling of cricket during the subcontinental monsoon and the flummoxing reasons for it.

Form guide

Home team - Bangladesh can take immense confidence from the manner in which they rattled the South Africans to dismiss them for 248 in the first innings at Chittagong, courtesy of sublime spells of pace bowling from the golden-boy debutant Mustafizur Rahman, and the unsung hero of the innings, Mohammad Shahid.

Shahid bowled with incredible persistence, accuracy and speed, in a spell which consisted of fifty dot balls and accumulated enough pressure for the spinners to strike at the other end. Bangladesh will be heavily reliant on Shahid and Mustafizur, as they have no third seamer to provide support.

The home team must bowl disciplined lines and lengths and operate efficiently in tandem with the three main spinners. The spin bowling was threatening, if not accurate, but the erratic Jubair Hossain and Taijul Islam will be ably supported by Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah, both of whom took crucial top-order wickets at Chittagong.

Bangladesh’s four-bowler strategy and Mushfiqur Rahim’s inability to keep wicket means that Soumya Sarkar - the Man-of-the-Series in the ODIs - will miss out once again in favour of keeper-batsman Litton Das, who has batted exceptionally well in the few international opportunities he has received as yet. The Bangladeshi top-order is expected to be tested on a surface that is believed to have more pace, bounce and carry than the one in Chittagong.

More importantly in the larger picture, Bangladesh will look to finally win a Test match against top-quality opposition in the world number one side, South Africa, and silence any skeptics of their meteoric rise and dramatic change of fortune in 2015.

Away team - South Africa will have indubitably been startled by the quality and, more surprisingly, the intensity of Test cricket displayed by the Bangladeshis in the first Test at Chittagong, which ended in a rain-soaked stalemate. The South African batting is now under intense scrutiny, with the experienced core of Hashim Amla, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis struggling in conditions that can become extremely tricky for batting when inexperienced or impatient.

The younger players on the side, who are on their first tour to Bangladesh, have done admirably well on these unfamiliarly slow and low wickets. Openers Stiaan van Zyl and Dean Elgar batted very well to get starts in the last Test but Elgar threw it away after a string of maidens from Shahid built up incredible pressure.

Temba Bavuma batted commendably and attempted to hold the lineup together in a chanceless innings of 54(108) with five boundaries. What was admirable was Bavuma’s comfort in facing the spin of Jubair and Taijul and his regular rotation of the strike. He even looked untroubled in Mustafizur’s short spells and has made a great case for his inclusion after AB’s return to the Test side.

The South African bowlers toiled hard on an unforgiving surface in Chittagong, but didn’t have much to show for it. Vernon Philander was perhaps the pick of the seamers and bowled probing spells on a flat deck, conceding just forty runs after twenty overs.

Their specialist spinner, Simon Harmer, picked three wickets at an economy of 3.00, but more importantly, took a large share of the workload, bowling 35 overs. Harmer looked exceedingly good on debut at home, and will look to extend the great start to his career.

Probable playing XIs

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Mahmudullah Riyadh, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim(C), 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Litton Das(Wk), 8 Taijul Islam, 9 Jubair Hossain, 10 Mohammad Shahid, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

South Africa: 1 Stiaan van Zyl, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Francois du Plessis, 4 Hashim Amla(c), 5 Temba Bavuma, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Dane Vilas(wk)/Quinton de Kock(wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Simon Harmer, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel