It was another day of South African dominance, as Bangladesh toiled hard for the remaining wickets, and half their team were back in the pavilion at the close.
Yesterday, the Tigers had fought back well towards the end, with left-arm spinner Taijul Islam removing both Rickelton and Bavuma.
However, it was Keshav Maharaj who stole the show today with his fearless hitting.
Even though Verreynne was dismissed rather early, Wiaan Mulder supported Maharaj steadily.
Mulder remained more patient, but Maharaj set out to unsettle the spinners right from the get-go.
He would reach his 4th Test half-century, and this knock soon became his personal-best.
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By lunch time, the only relief for Bangladesh was the wicket of Mulder, which ended a bruising 83-run stand. Unfortunately, Maharaj completely missed an attempted leg-side slog and it crashed onto his stumps. Taijul got his 10th 5-wicket haul, and it was a fitting reward.
He ended up bowling a grand total of 50 overs in the Proteas first innings, and at times, singlehandedly kept his side somewhat in contention.
A handy 29 from Simon Harmer helped SA cross the 450 threshold and they were bowled out right at the stroke of tea.
Bangladesh had plenty of catching up to do with the bat, and the start was far from optimal.
Mahmudul Hasan Joy, the kingpin from last game, fell without scoring as he edged to first slip in the very first over from Duanne Olivier.
Despite getting rocked early, Tamim Iqbal and Nazmul Hossain Shanto decided to counterattack the Proteas bowlers, and it was quite effective. Tamim channeled his experience and took three boundaries off Lizaad Williams.
Shanto would soon join the party and play an array of sweeps off Harmer.
Both batters added a total of 79 runs, but it was the introduction of Wiaan Mulder that would kick off a procession.
Mulder not only trapped both set players LBW, but as was the case just 5 overs later when skipper Mominul Haque was the next to go.
There was a point when SA were in desperate search of an opening, but this flurry of wickets couldn’t have come at a better time.
And the return of Olivier brought about the fifth wicket, and a peach of a cross-seamer came back in to hit the off stump to dismiss Liton Das.
Bangladesh don’t have a whole lot of batting left, with just one more capable batter still to come, so there’s a lot riding on Mushfiqur Rahim and Yasir Ali.
In addition, they haven’t score even a third of SA’s total. The plan for tomorrow will mostly be damage control, and the Proteas bowlers will look to bring the innings to an early end. Stay tuned for Day 3.
SA 453 in 136.2 overs (Maharaj 84, Elgar 70, Bavuma 67, K Petersen 64 – Taijul 6/135)
BAN 139/5 in 41 overs (Tamim 47 – Mulder 3/15)
