Kagiso Rabada stars as South Africa beat Bangladesh by seven wickets in first Test; register first Test win in Asia in 10 years

Hyderabad: South Africa registered their first Test match win in Asia a decade after beating Bangladesh by seven wickets in the first Test at Mirpur on Thursday.

The win helped South Africa leapfrog to the fourth spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) points table. The top two teams in the table, at the end of the ongoing cycle (2023-25), will play the WTC Final in Lord’s next year.

The win meant South Africa bagged 12 points and improved their point percentage to 47.62%.

The star of the Test match for South Africa was Kagiso Rabada who finished with a match haul of nine wickets.

The last time South Africa won a Test match in the subcontinent was against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2014.

Chasing a modest 106 to win the Test, South Africa overhauled the score in 22 overs, with Tony de Zorzi top scoring with 41. Tristan Stubbs (30 nout out) and Ryan Rickelton finished the proceedings for South Africa.

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto’s decision to bat first after winning the toss backfired as Rabada (3/26), Wiaan Mulder (3/22) and Keshav Maharaj (3/34) shone with the ball as Bangladesh was bowled out for 106.

Although Bangladesh staged a fight back through their spinners – Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan – a century from Kyle Verreynne(114) and useful contributions from Mulder (54) and Dane Piedt (32) helped South Africa to a 308, taking a 202 runs first innings lead.

Bangladesh were reduced to 112/6 in their second innings with Rabada being the wrecker-in-chief, however, Mehidy Hasan (97) along with Jaker Ali (58) and Nayeem Hasan (16) pushed Bangladesh to 307, giving South Africa a target of just 106.

Rabada recorded an impressive 6/46, his best in Asia, in the second innings.

The loss meant Bangladesh have now slipped to the seventh position in the WTC standings with 30.56% points.

The second Bangladesh vs South Africa Test will be played from October 29 in Chattogram.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 106 (Mahmudul Hasan Joy 30, Mulder 3/22, Rabada 3/26, Maharaj 3/34) and 307 (Mehidy Hasan Miraz 97, Jaker Ali 58, Rabada 6/46) lost to South Africa 308 (Verreynne 114, Mulder 54, Taijul 5/122) and 106/3 (De Zorzi 41, Stubbs 30 not out, Taijul 3/43).