Hridoy and Litton's 206-run stand powers Bangladesh after Rabada's five-for

Towhid Hridoy became the second Bangladesh batter to score a Test century against South Africa, after Mahmudul Hasan Joy in 2022, to provide his team with their highest total against this opposition, with four wickets still in hand. Hridoy and Litton Das shared a sixth-wicket stand of 206, the highest partnership by a Bangladesh pair against South Africa for any wicket. That led a spectacular recovery after Kagiso Rabada's new-ball spell left Bangladesh at 22 for 3 in the ninth over, and his burst after lunch saw them slip to 121 for 5.

Hridoy, in just his fourth Test, continued a remarkable run of form, which saw him post the highest individual score by a Bangladesh batter with his 242* against West Indies ten days ago. Now, he has a hundred away from home, in conditions reputed to be among the toughest for batters and against a much-vaunted attack. Hridoy navigated four seamers who offered seam movement, pace and bounce by taking the fight to them, and came out on top.

South Africa may be left scratching their heads over what went wrong as they stacked the side with options. Rabada's 18th Test five-for put him level with Makhaya Ntini, and joint-third on South Africa's all time five-for list, behind Dale Steyn (26) and Allan Donald (20). Much as that will give South Africa cause for celebration, they will be more concerned with why no one else in the attack was among the wickets until the last ball of the day.

Dane Paterson, playing his first Test since Boxing Day 2024, came closest and drew several edges, but without luck. Marco Jansen struggled to find the right lengths and Wiaan Mulder offered little threat, while South Africa's sole specialist spinner, Simon Harmer, was expensive and conceded at 5.18 runs an over.

In the end, Bangladesh will be more than happy with how they performed after Shanto decided to bat first on a surface with a decent grass covering, and after the way things started. They flung their debutant opener Mahfijul Islam straight into the firing line when he had to face the first ball of the match. Rabada delivered a standard full delivery outside off that could have been left alone. Instead, Mahifjul played at it and got a thick outside edge which flew to Jansen at gully to become the fourth player in the history of the game to be dismissed for a first-ball duck on debut.

Momimul Haque saw out the rest of the opening over before Tanzid Hasan faced a ball. Mominul then shouldered arms to the first one from Jansen, and it hit him in the side. Welcome to it. He lasted only as long as Rabada's next over when he nicked off to register Bangladesh's second duck.

Rabada then produced the magical moment of the morning when he lured Shanto into a drive, and the ball swerved between the bat-pad gap to take out his off stump. South Africa may have been eyeing a short day in the field, but Tanzid and Hridoy rebuilt and gained confidence. They took Bangladesh to lunch on 91 for 3, and their partnership was worth 69 at the break. They added another 30 runs in the afternoon before Rabada was rewarded in the fifth over of his second spell.

Tanzid, on 67, played a back-of-a-length ball onto his stumps to end a well-constructed innings, before Mushfiqur Rahim edged Rabada to Harmer at third slip to give Rabada two in two and his five-for. Rabada's hat-trick ball was fast, and straightened on Litton, but he steered it to point. Litton saw out the over, and the pressure eased.

Slowly, Bangladesh began counterpunching. When Jansen went too short, Litton pulled him fine; when Mulder tried it, Hriody stayed on the back foot to swat through midwicket. Both batters remained convincing against anything back of a length or shorter. Hridoy's fifty came off 99 balls, and he guided Bangladesh to tea without any further loss on 184 for 5.

The final session started with the intent Bangladesh would show for the rest of the day when Litton punched Paterson down the ground for four. Rabada returned for a third spell, was initially too short, and then went fuller. South Africa reviewed two lbw shouts against Hridoy in that time, but both times, the impact was outside off stump. Then, Litton outside-egded Rabada for four to bring up fifty off 71 balls. By then, Hridoy was on 80.

With the ball 60 overs old, there was already the sense South Africa were biding time, and the batters cashed in. They scored 94 runs in 20 overs before the second new ball became available as they found boundaries at will. Hridoy's hundred came off a Paterson ball that reared up, but he leant back to play it through backward point for four. He raised both arms aloft to soak in the century and then performed sajda on the Wanderers turf.

South Africa took the second new ball as soon as it became available, and it brought one wicket. Hridoy tried to flick Jansen to the leg side but missed, and the ball thudded into his front pad. He was given out lbw and reviewed in vain to finish with exactly the same score as Mahmudul more than four years ago.