Maharaj takes wickets in 1st 3 overs to send Bangladesh crashing
Keshav Maharaj took wickets in each of his first three overs of the day to send Bangladesh crashing to a miserable 53 all out and giving South Africa an overwhelming 220-run victory early on the fifth and final day of the first Test at Kingsmead in Durban on Monday.
Left-arm spinner Maharaj finished with 7/32 in 10 overs, the best ever figures for South Africa against Bangladesh, and combined with off-spinner Simon Harmer (9-3-21-3) to send the tourists crashing from their overnight woes of 11/3, their last 7 wickets falling in just 13 overs and 55 minutes.
Overnight batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (0) failed to see out the first over as the fifth ball, a trademark Maharaj delivery that slid straight on with the arm, trapped him lbw.
Liton Das (2) lamely drove Maharaj to mid-on in his next over, but Maharaj went to his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests with a tremendous, almost unplayable delivery that bowled Yasir Ali (5). Quicker and flatter but still drifting in, the ball then ripped viciously across the right-hander and knocked over his off-stump.
Harmer, who took the first four wickets to fall in the first innings, had Mehidy Hasan Miraz (0) caught at slip and top-scorer Nazmul Hossain Shanto was stumped by Kyle Verreynne for 26 to bring the tailenders to the crease.
That went as you would expect with Maharaj wrapping up the innings for the second-best figures of his career, behind his 9/129 in Sri Lanka in 2018.
Bangladesh’s total was their second-lowest ever and the worst at Tests in Kingsmead, the previous mark being India’s infamous 66 all out on a greentop in 1996/97.
New history was witnessed at the ground on Monday and this time it was spinners who you will remember rather than fast bowlers.