Bangladesh and South Africa arrived in Dhaka yesterday afternoon ahead of the second and final Test at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, slated to get underway this Thursday. The teams touched down in the capital city following a disappointing conclusion to the first Test in Chittagong which was marred by rain.
The players of both the sides departed straight for their hotel from the airport as there was no training scheduled for yesterday. Both the hosts and the tourists will begin training today.
Even though the Chittagong Test ended in a draw due to persistent rainfall, it turned out to be an eventful outing for the Tigers. The home side displayed some brilliant cricket to skittle out the visitors for 248, the Proteas’ second lowest total against the Tigers. In reply, the Tigers managed a 78-run lead, the first instance in a Bangladesh-South Africa Test match.
Pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman impressed yet again with his control and off-cutters on way to a four-wicket haul on debut. He became the only cricketer in the history of five-day cricket to bag the man-of-the-match award on both ODI and Test debut.
Although the batting performance was not fully up to the mark, still, the home side were able to take a substantial lead, courtesy fighting half-centuries from Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah and youngster Liton Kumar Das.
The series-decider however, is once again expected to be interrupted by rain as weather forecasts suggest showers throughout the five days of the Test match.
