Bangladesh's top guns fail patience test

On Thursday, five Bangladesh batsmen walked off in Mirpur with possibly similar feelings after being dismissed. Each of them scored between 30 and 65 runs, batted between 108 and 190 minutes, and none of them finished the job they set out to do. Each batsman gave away the impetus which comes naturally to a side batting first on a flat, slow wicket.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan, among the five, would feel hard done by, but Mominul Haque, Imrul Kayes and Mahmudullah got out at similar times of their respective innings without really helping the team. Even just two of those batsmen holding their end at the crease could have made a massive difference.

Since October 25 last year, one in every five innings played by a batsman has been between the scores of 30 and 60. The Bangladesh batsmen can be credited for having more of an inclination during this period to grind it out. Imrul, Mominul and Tamim Iqbal have twice batted individually longer than four hours in the last nine months.

While Tamim became Dale Steyn's 400th Test wicket and got out to him for the fifth time in six Tests, Mominul and Imrul led a smooth recovery. There was minimal exertion as they dealt with Hashim Amla's quick changes in bowling. The South Africa pace trio found it hard to break through, so Amla brought on JP Duminy, his fifth-change bowler, immediately after lunch. Success followed soon, too, as Duminy removed both batsmen in successive overs. From 81 for 1, Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah suddenly had to handle 86 for 3.

It was an important time for the Bangladesh captain, who had not scored a Test fifty in the last 10 innings. Compared to the rest of the batsmen, it was to be Mushfiqur's day and the trigger was easy to figure out: he connected the slog-sweep quite early in his innings and went on to dominate the South Africa attack more than anyone else. Mahmudullah was playing well within himself for much of his stay before he chipped one off Steyn to Temba Bavuma at midwicket. There were many occasions when he could have taken advantage of Mushfiqur's aggression but decided to be the anchor, making 35 off 91 balls.

Mahmudullah and Mominul have been dismissed between 30 and 69 seven times each in the last 10 months. The range of scores may be considered too wide, but it is actually narrow if usual Test innings are taken into account. Batsmen like Mominul and Mahmudullah, given their individual responsibilities at No. 3 and 4 in the batting order, need to produce big, important runs.

Mominul called his dismissal a wrong choice of shot and acknowledged that it had been the same when he had played back to a Simon Harmer delivery in the first Test. In Chittagong, he was bowled by one that came in while on this occasion, he edged it to the wicketkeeper.

"I took a wrong decision, maybe my first one of the day," Mominul said. "It was also a wrong decision in the last game. I hope to overcome quickly. I don't think I am losing concentration. The cut is my scoring shot, so I am playing those shots from which I get runs. Sometimes your best shot don't work for you. When it doesn't happen for you, even the half chances go to hand. I have to be more careful next time."

Mominul said South Africa bowled close to their body to slow down the run-rate but admitted his team gifted some of their wickets away.

"They hardly give you balls off which you can score runs. They are always bowling stump-to-stump. They have three of the best fast bowlers in the world. I had a hard time scoring runs. Their spinner bowled well. My wicket and Liton's weren't really great. Imrul got out to a good ball. I think some of us gifted them wickets but Shakib bhai's dismissal was a good ball."

Mushfiqur batted the longest among the five who got starts and was unlucky to be given out caught-behind off the part-timer Dean Elgar. It was a classic left-arm spinner's delivery to the right-hander, but while the ball took off after pitching, replays showed that it had not taken the outside edge as was first decided by the on-field umpire Paul Reiffel. The third umpire, having seen several angles and probed through the snickometer plenty of times, upheld Reiffel's call.

Shakib too had little control over his wicket. Morne Morkel got the old ball to nip away enough to take his outside edge and the catch was held well by a diving Elgar at second slip. Both batsmen can consider themselves unlucky, but sometimes these decisions and deliveries do not go your way on a day when the rest apply themselves better. If the other three had batted longer, it is unlikely Mushfiqur and Shakib would even have had to face such situations.

On the three other occasions that Bangladesh batted first since October, they had not lost more than four wickets on the first day. They also have not scored more than 303 runs. On this occasion, Mominul admitted his team was heading towards a low total.

"I think the score isn't big. It has to be around 350 to 400 runs. Bowlers then have a total to bowl at. The total is quite low," he said.

Having picked eight batsmen, however, the team management may have expected a different outcome on the first day when a team's intention is on full display. But limited application held back Bangladesh, and it could come back to haunt them if the bowlers do not bowl at their very best on the second morning.