Mehidy Hasan Miraz and debutant Jaker Ali helped Bangladesh to take an 81-run lead over South Africa before rain and bad light brought an early end to day three of the first Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.
Mehidy and Jaker both hit fifties and added 138 runs for the seventh wicket to lift the Tigers from a precarious position of 112-6 when they still needed 90 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
The partnership was broken before rain halted the play before the tea break. Only five overs were possible due to bad light after the rain had stopped, with Mehidy and Nayeem Hasan unbeaten on 87 and 16 runs, respectively.
Mehidy was closing towards his second Test hundred, while Nayeem looked confident too after surviving an early lbw decision.
South Africa, though, were yet to take the second new ball, as the light didn鈥檛 permit the pacers to bowl. Mehidy and Nayeem added 16 from five overs possible with the old ball after the break.
There are rain forecasts on Thursday too.
Bangladesh resumed the day on 101-3 with Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudul Hasan Joy both looked well-set. But Kagiso Rabada struck twice in the space of three balls in the fifth over of the morning to put the hosts on the brink.
Joy departed after making 40 when his attempted drive found a thick edge to first slip, where David Bedingham took the catch. The opener, returning to the Test side after almost seven months, failed again to convert the start he got.
Rabada then sent Mushfiq's middle stump cartwheeling out of the ground with a full delivery that nipped back. The right-hander made 33.
Liton Das followed for just seven as he edged a sharply turning delivery from Keshav Maharaj to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne and the dismissal was confirmed as caught on review, after an initial shout for lbw.
Then the cushion of an extra batter came into play for Bangladesh as Mehidy and Jaker continued to rebuild and kept frustrating South Africa.
They duo added 138 runs in a partnership that spanned almost 41 overs.
Mehidy got to his ninth fifty off 94 balls before lunch as Bangladesh went on to the break with one run shy of parity. Jaker reached his maiden fifty off 102 balls just after the break.
Mahraj finally broke Bangladesh鈥檚 fourth highest seventh wicket partnership when he trapped Jaker lbw for 58.
Nayeem survived an lbw decision as the ball tracking technology showed that the Marahaj delivery would have gone over the stumps.
Rain was looming then, and finally it came down to stop play at 1.37pm. Tea was taken early, but after the one hour and 23 minutes break, only 16 minutes of action were possible.
The umpires inspected the ground on multiple occasions, but finally the play was called off with about one hour of scheduled time remaining.
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