Watch cricket video highlights between Bangladesh vs Sri Lanak second day of 1st test, played at Sylhet.
After their seamers tore through Bangladesh’s lineup to establish a substantial first-inning advantage of 92 at Sylhet, before the hitters extended it further, Sri Lanka finished the day 211 runs ahead of schedule. One of two first-innings centurions, Dhananjaya de Silva (23*), was at the crease with nightwatcher Vishwa Fernando after Bangladesh again caused problems for Sri Lanka’s top order on a track that was getting harder and harder for batsmen to hit.
During a blistering opening performance, Nahid Rana maintained his fantastic debut by taking the wickets of Kusal Mendis and Nishan Madushka. The spinners were also finally able to celebrate when Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz respectively got rid of Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal.
However, it was Shoriful Islam who claimed Dimuth Karunaratne’s most sought-after wicket. The former skipper had just reached his 36th Test fifty after launching a blistering, yet resilient, innings when he top-edged a stinging bouncer straight to fine leg. As a result, Sri Lanka was reduced to 113 for 5, and the last few minutes of play between Vishwa and Dhananjaya were tense.
But even though Bangladesh’s bowling unit did its best, Sri Lanka’s seamers made sure their team would win the day after a methodical and inquisitive effort paid off, as the hosts were knocked for 188 less than an hour before lunch.
After Bangladesh was down three wickets at the start of the day, Sri Lanka’s seamers hogged the ball throughout the morning session and much of the afternoon as well (spinner Prabath Jayasuriya was given just one over). They ended up taking all ten wickets, which was a first for the quicks in a Test innings in Bangladesh since 2008.
Each of Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha, and Vishwa Fernando delivered endless stretches of disciplined, excellent fast bowling in a demonstration of both patience and endurance.
Before lunch, Kumara dealt severe damage early in the day by dismissing three of the team’s top hitters. Mahmudul Hasan Joy was the first to depart; he had not appeared to be at ease handling the seaming ball outside off and, at the end, pushed too hard at one that bounced a little bit more.
Though Kumara reserved his best for Litton Das, Shahadat Hossain also succumbed to that annoying length outside off and edged into the slip cordon. (19). He had already bowled a handful that kept their line outside off, but on this occasion he got one to jag back in, smashing through bat and pad and crashing into the stumps.
Up until then, Litton had been in fine form, but his removal shortly before lunch proved to be significant as it broke an innings-high 41-run partnership and sent Mehidy, the final designated batter, to the crease.
Nevertheless, Taijul, who had arrived the night before as a nightwatcher, was still present and appeared more certain. The spinner had outperformed his more famous batting colleagues earlier in the day with a couple of beautiful strokes along with unexpectedly strong defensive tenacity.
This might have resulted from his increased awareness of his limits, making him less prone to fall for the bait that the Sri Lankan seamen were offering outside. However, he flashed at a wide, full one from Rajitha and hit the edge, just when Bangladesh would have been hoping he would continue.
Then, Mehidy tried to deflect the ball away from Shoriful, but that tactic called for a more aggressive approach, and as a result, he ended up obtaining a leading edge and trying to force a straight hit past midwicket.
From that point on, Sri Lanka may have expected to finish things quickly, but Khaled Ahmed and Shoriful made the decision to stop pretending to draw the innings out and to slug at whatever chance they could. The highlights were a few of powerful smashes from Jayasuriya, and some lucky edges gave rise to runs even off the seamers.
Ultimately, Khaled lost his balance as Shoriful made one too many top edges, giving him a substantial edge on a swipe over the line. With the difficulty of the remaining runs scored, the pair’s 40-run partnership—which came off just 35 deliveries—might prove to be rather useful in the overall context of the game.
