‘Definitely the best innings of my Test career’ – Kyle Verreynne reflects on Dhaka exploits against Bangladesh

Kyle Verreynne. (Source:X/Twitter)

South Africa managed to bowl out Bangladesh for a mere 106 runs on Day 1 of the first Test at the Sher E Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. They would have the same plight as their counterparts if not for the wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne. Verreynne came out to bat when the visitors were reduced to 108 runs at the expense of six wickets.

He paired with Wiaan Mulder to share a 119-run stan for the seventh wicket. When he was the last man to be dismissed, he had already helped his team post 308 runs with his contribution of 114 runs off 144 balls. At the end of the day’s play, Verreynne expressed his emotions after a splendid knock while highlighting his ability to tackle spin, and termed the innings as his “most rewarding innings”.

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“It is definitely the best innings of my Test career. It is probably the toughest conditions I have played under in terms of heat and humidity. Back home we don’t face long periods of spin bowling. Around 90% of that innings was just against spin. Things happen quickly. You don’t have much time to reset from a concentration point of view. This was certainly my most rewarding innings,” said Verreynne as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. 

There was no specific emphasis put on playing the sweep: Verreynne

Bangladesh spinner, Taijul Islam was the pick of the bowler for Bangladesh as he plucked five wickets. But his prowess was overshadowed by the way Proteas’ lower order tackled spin. Unlike England, who were criticised for sweeping almost everything coming from Pakistan spinners, Verreynne shed light on how batting coach, Ashwell Prince not stressing on sweep shots helped the batters.

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“Wiaan Mulder and I, and the batters chatted this morning. We spoke to batting coach Ashy P (Ashwell Prince) about how we are going to try to go about things. There was no specific emphasis put on playing the sweep,” Verreynne concluded.