'1 Mustafiz over nailed us down'

South Africa's middle-order batsman Temba Bavuma credited Bangladesh's bowlers for their dominating performance on the first day of the first Test between the sides at Zahur Ahmed Cowdhury Stadium here yesterday.

The batsman, who top-scored for the visitors with 54, admitted that South Africa were 'nailed down' by the hosts after Mustafizur Rahman's three-wicket burst.

"I think for Bangladesh that's when the momentum swung in their favour [after Mustafizur scalped three wickets in the 60th over]. From that point they just kept on nailing it down on us. We weren't able to recover from there and yeah it was a brilliant spell from Mustafiz," said Bavuma.

"I think it wasn't our best day. We were on top till lunch. We were 130 something for 1 and then to be bundled out for 250-odd… we didn't have our best day. We haven't taken any team lightly. Bangladesh were just on top today, but tomorrow we will be coming back fighting even harder," he added.

Bavuma reckoned that his side failed to adjust to the slow and low wicket in Chittagong. He also lamented the fact that the visitors lost wickets in clusters and failed to build partnerships.

"I think the wicket for me was quite slow and so trying to adapt to the wicket was a bit more of a challenge. Trying to score as well was a bit more of a challenge with the ball not coming on to the bat and keeping a bit low. But the Bangladeshis bowled quite well and made life hard for us," he said.

"When we had opportunities to try and get a better momentum in our innings we kind of lost it there. Maybe mentally we were quite weak at times. But these things happen. The guys [Bangladeshis] had their game plans and unfortunately our game plans didn't work for us today," he added.

He also said that the deliveries were more difficult to play once the ball got a bit older.

"I think with the new ball it was definitely a bit easier with the ball coming on to the bat. The wicket was playing a bit more consistently. As the ball got a bit older it got a bit harder to try and score and pierce the gaps. Like I said the guys didn't really give us any freebies to score," said Bavuma, adding that the wicket would only get more difficult to bat on as the Test progressed.