SA vs BAN 2022 review: Bangladesh take a steep fall from the mountain top

As Bangladesh board their flight home from Port Elizabeth, they will surely be having mixed feelings about their tour of South Africa. For, what had begun as a dream at the start of the tour, transformed into a nightmare by the end. After winning a superb maiden ODI series in South Africa, they suffered a humiliating Test series defeat as they were whitewashed 0-2, losing by 220 runs and 332 runs, respectively.

Bangladesh went into the red ball series high on confidence. They won the ODI series against a full-strength South African side which had recently whitewashed India. They also came off a memorable win against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui in January and had managed to draw the series against the current Test champions.

South Africa, on the other hand, were faced with a plague of absent players as the core of their Test team comprising Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Aiden Markram, Marco Jensen, and Rassie van der Dussen left for the IPL. This left the Proteas' skipper and head-coach, Dean Elgar and Mark Boucher, with a second-string side. Thus, the Bangladesh side had reason to feel high on confidence heading into the Test series.

Bangladesh's batting fails against spin

Pitches in South Africa are generally a fast bowler's delight with the pitch having a lot of spice to aid seam movement and good bounce throughout the five days. But this series was an exception as it was dominated by spin. Simon Harmer made a comeback into the Test side for the Proteas with Keshav Maharaj being his supporting bowler and the spin-twins accounted for 29 of the 40 Bangladesh's wickets.

Keshav Maharaj was the Player of the Series after taking 16 wickets, with Harmer close behind on 13. This was the first time since South Africa's readmission to cricket that they had played two specialist spinners at home.

Bangladesh started the first Test in Durban on the wrong foot when their skipper Mominul Haque decided to bowl first, disagreeing with coach Russell Domingo who insisted they bat first and take early advantage.

It was later revealed that the senior batsmen did not want to bat first on a green Kingsmead wicket as they felt that it would help their case if they saw how the pitch behaved while fielding. This lack of confidence in the batting group was evident from the start and the South African bowlers feasted on it.

Bangladesh did show some positives while batting, particularly in the first innings of the first Test. Opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy scored a patient 137 off 326 deliveries, helping his team score 298 in reply to the Proteas' 367. He was helped by some handy knocks from the middle order too, with wicket-keeper Litton Das chipping in with a brisk 41. However, none of the other batters stood up.

In the second innings of the first Test, while chasing 273 on the last day, Bangladesh were bowled out for 53 inside 19 overs. This was their second-lowest score ever in Tests and all 10 wickets were taken by the spin-twins Maharaj and Harmer, who bowled unchanged. This feat was achieved in the second innings of the second Test too.

Their batting failure against spin continued into the next match in Port Elizabeth as they were bundled out for 217 and 80. The batting failure was attributed to the failure of the senior batters by the skipper as none of them showed any grit to fight in tough situations. The failures were much more surprising as the pitches resembled sub-continental pitches, particularly their home-conditions.

Shadman Islam failed to impress, scoring 9 and 0 as an opener in the absence of Tamim Iqbal in Durban

Tamim Iqbal, captain of the series-winning ODI side, missed the first Test due to an injury but played in the second Test. Although, he did score a quick 47 in the first innings, it was his batting aggression which led to his downfall in both innings as he became a victim of playing too many shots and not taking responsibility.

Shakib Al Hasan missed the Test series due to a personal tragedy and the pressure fell on their most experienced batter Mushfiqur Rahim, who too failed to score big. While he helped Bangladesh to 217 in the second Test with a patient 51, he had scores of seven, zero, and one on either side of that knock.

Moreover, he did himself no favors getting dismissed while attempting a reverse sweep on a square-turning track. Despite this, he got support from the batting coach who emphasized the importance of quick runs, which makes it unlikely that Mushfiqur Rahim will depart with his sense of adventurism in the future too.

Bowlers shine in patches

Bangladesh need to be credited for staying in the match for the first four days in Durban before their batting imploded on the last day. Credit must go to the bowling group, who showed a lot more determination and fight than their batting counterparts. After South Africa raced off the blocks to a good start in the first innings of the first Test, the Bangladesh bowlers did well to get back into the match, dismissing the Proteas for 367. In the second innings, they gave their side their best chance of winning after they dismissed South Africa for 204, giving themselves 273 to chase.

Khaled Ahmed was a big positive for Bangladesh in the first Test as he took four wickets in the first innings. He was also supported by Mehidy Hasan, who took three apiece in both innings. Ebadot Hossain also chipped in with three wickets in the second innings.

In the second Test at Port Elizabeth, it was Taijul Islam who took six wickets in the first innings with his off-break. He took another three wickets in the second innings to become the joint-highest wicket-taker, along with Mehidy Hasan, for his side in the series.

Taijul Islam picked 6-135 in 50 overs in the first innings of the second Test at Port Elizabeth

Bangladesh's bowlers displayed the same aggression they had displayed in the Test at Mount Maunganui, backed by their bowling coach, but the result did not go in their favor as they did not have a cushion of runs this time to exert relentless pressure.

Leadership group does not stand up

While the failure of the senior players could be attributed to technical deficiencies, it was the team's attitude both on- and off-the-field which disappointed even the most nationalistic of Bangladesh supporters.

After the loss in the first Test, the team-management seemed to approach the match officials for every trivial matter and it looked as if they were looking for some excuse for their defeat. While umpiring was not quite standard in the first Test with as many as eight decisions being overturned, Bangladesh made the most noise by approaching the ICC to lodge a formal complaint. Upon a closer look, the umpiring decisions did not look biased and they went against both teams in the match.

This was just another incident which highlighted Bangladesh's lack of respect for the umpires. They have had a long history of alleging umpires for their failures, which has also led to the game coming into disrepute whether it was in the quarter-finals of World Cup 2015 or the Nidahas trophy, or in the domestic tournaments.

The Bangladesh team management again approached the ICC to complain about the behavior of the South Africans, where they alleged that they were subjected to "deplorable sledging" and that the match officials and the match referee were silent spectators.

Dean Elgar was quite dismissive of Bangladesh's behavior in the press conference before the start of the second Test:

"I don't think they're justified, whatsoever. We play the game hard, and if anything we were just giving back what we were getting when we were batting. We were just giving them back what we were receiving. I think they need to harden up and play the game at a level that maybe they're not used to."

The team management also complained to the match referee regarding the delayed start on the first day in Durban, when the start of the game was held up due to sightscreen issues. Mominul Haque was quick to point out that the delayed start deprived his team of an early advantage.

He also complained that the match officials did not listen to his team's request to start the match early the next day to get that advantage. This statement further proved that the team manager and skipper were just crying foul as it was mentioned in their rule book that the time lost would be made up at the end of the day's play.

Such instances highlight the lack of leadership within the group. Although Bangladesh have taken big strides in their limited overs game, their red ball game seems to show little progress since their introduction to Test cricket. Unless the leadership group takes on more responsibility and the players improve their red ball game, Bangladesh will remain a work-in progress and the win at Mount Maunganui will look like a fluke.