Sri Lanka fight back as rare overseas win beckons Bangladesh

A spirited show with the ball has put Bangladesh on top in Colombo Test after Sri Lanka suffered a middle-order batting collapse on the penultimate day.

Sports Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 18 March 2017, 06:48 AM
Updated : 18 March 2017, 01:39 PM

Riding a valiant century from Dimuth Karunaratne (126), the Lankan lions reached 268 for 8 at close of play, cropping up a lead of 139 runs at the P Sara Oval on Saturday.

Mustafizur Rahman (3-52) and Shakib Al Hasan (3-61) shared six wickets between them to run through the Sri Lanka batting order and hand Bangladesh rare shot of victory on opponents’ turf in their 100th Test.

Sri Lanka then produced two useful partnerships as Dilruwan Perera (26 off 126 balls) and Suranga Lakmal (17) stuck in until stumps after Karunaratne struck his fifth Test century to keep the innings afloat.

The left-handed opener carved up 10 boundaries and a six before falling to Shakib for a catch in the slips in the final session. Other southpaw Taijul Islam then trapped Rangana Herath (9) lbw.

Earlier, Karunaratne and Mendis fashioned a stern resistance before lunch to put Sri Lanka ahead after the islanders resumed on an overnight score of 54 for no loss.

Bangladesh struck early in the morning session when Mehedi Hasan Miraz went past the gates Upul Tharanga (26) with a beautiful turner with his first ball. Since then Bangladesh bowlers have struggled to trouble the batsmen.

Karunaratne and Mendis, who scored 194 in the first innings at Galle, looked comfortable in patiently negotiating some sharp turners from Bangladesh spinners while Subashis Roy and Mustafizur Rahman produced good bounce from the pitch.

The tourists, however, turned the tables on Sri Lanka who slipped to 199 for 6 in 69 overs at tea after managing just 62 runs at the expense of five wickets in the second session.

Mustafizur accounted for the wicket of Mendis (36) when Bangladesh overturned an on-field decision for caught behind through review. The third umpire concluded that there was a slight deviation and a noise to adjudge him out.

The end of the 86-run second-wicket stand triggered a slide. Mustafizur then sent back the last innings centurion Dinesh Chandimal (5) and Dhananjaya de Silva (0) also caught behind while Shakib snared the wickets of Asela Gunaratne (7) and Niroshan Dickwella (5).

Mushfiqur Rahim contributed with four catches behind the stumps, including two stunners, as Sri Lanka lose 5-47 in 14.1 overs after lunch.

Karunaratne, however, held his ground at one end, getting an outside edge off Mustafizur for four to reach his century off 168 deliveries, containing nine boundaries and a six.