No excuses left for Tigers after SA humiliation

It seems the Bangladesh national cricket team is on a mission to break all sorts of records in Tests, well, at least the ignominious ones. They hit a new low yesterday when they conceded an innings and 273-run defeat to South Africa in the second and final Test to suffer a 2-0 clean-sweep in Chattogram.

Their performance in the match was nothing short of shambolic and the defeat, which is their second worst ever in Tests behind an innings and 310-run loss to the West Indies in Dhaka in 2002, leaves a giant question mark over their growth as a Test-playing nation over the last 24 years.

The fact that Bangladesh lost the series to South Africa, a side that has not won a Test series in the sub-continent in a decade, only heightens those doubts.

On a batting paradise at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, where the Proteas scored a colossal 575-6d with three of their batters notching up their maiden Test tons, Bangladesh batters should have thrived.

But the host batters seemed to be hell-bent on not scoring runs in the match as the Tigers went on to lose 16 wickets in just one day to suffer a humiliating defeat.

Bangladesh's batting in both innings can be summarised by dissecting the performance of their most successful batter of the day – Mominul Haque.

The left-hander made 82 off 112 balls in the first innings and his 103-run stand with Taijul Islam was the only reason why the Tigers could cross the 150-run mark after being reduced to 48-8.

The Southpaw's resistance ended when he got trapped in front by Senuran Muthusamy in the second session on the third day.

Bangladesh were soon bundled out and had to come out to bat again after the Proteas enforced the follow-on. Two quick wickets fell soon after and Mominul was once again at the middle in the same session.

Unlike the first innings, where he had to chance his arm and play some shots as Bangladesh only had two wickets in hand, now the situation required Mominul to show some resilience with the hosts still trailing by 388 runs with almost two-and-half days left.

Instead, the experienced batter, yet to get off the mark, played a lofted shot in the second ball he faced and found the only player stationed in the deep square leg. Muthusamy completed a regulation catch while the bowler Keshav Maharaj was laughing, almost in disbelief.

The same disbelief was also palpable in the responses of the Proteas stand-in skipper Aiden Markram during the post-match press conference where he admitted that he did not envision this game to end inside three days.

"No, not at all. We were mentally prepared to go the long haul, to late into Day 5… Didn't think I would be sitting here at night at the end of today [Thursday] and that the game would be done," said Markram.

Neither the condition nor the wicket can be used as an excuse for this defeat. In their own backyard, Bangladesh were completely annihilated by a mostly inexperienced South Africa team. The players need to either pull up their socks very quickly or come up with better excuses as more humiliations seem to be on the cards in the coming days.