Few firsts in rainy draw

After 221 overs, the Test match at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong ended in a draw yesterday. Expectedly so, neither of the team captains were happy with the result, considering that the first match of the two-Test was still wide open and poised for an exciting finish.

With the match called off at 12 pm yesterday, Bangladesh's players decided to enjoy a game of football in the rain during the afternoon, before packing up their bags and heading for the team hotel for one last time.

While the hosts may have lost the opportunity to provide a final push for a rare victory, they have however, achieved a number of firsts in the game.

For starters, pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman, yesterday became the first-ever cricketer to be adjudged player-of-the-match in both his debut Test and ODI.

The left-arm pacer had grabbed a four-wicket haul, which was the key reason behind South Africa's downfall in the first innings. The only other bowler to have two player-of-the-match awards in his debut games is Elias Sunny, who won it in his Test and T20I debuts respectively.

The 19-year-old Mustafizur has also become only the fourth Bangladeshi after Javed Omar, Elias Sunny and Mohammad Ashraful to be adjudged the player-of-the-match on debut.

This was also Bangladesh's 14th draw in Tests, their first against South Africa after eight consecutive defeats, and their third this year after draws against Pakistan and India.

Apart from posting their highest ever lead while batting second in a Test, this was also the first time they posted a total of more than 300 against the Proteas.

The draw also means that Bangladesh's good luck in Chittagong continues as they haven't lost a single Test match at this ground since their loss against Pakistan in December 2011. Prior to yesterday they had drawn Tests against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and beaten Zimbabwe at this port city venue.