Published: Feb 01, 2018, 02:06 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 01, 2018, 02:22 PM (IST)
Dhananjaya de Silva scripted a comeback for Sri Lanka after the early dismissal of Dimuth Karunaratne, pushing his side to 50 for 1 at tea, Day Two, during the first Test against Bangladesh, at Chittagong. Even after bagging three wickets in the first session of the day, Sri Lanka could not stop Bangladesh from going past 500. Mahmudullah shepherded the tail and scored an unbeaten 83 to take Bangladesh to . Later, Mehedi Hasan removed Karunaratne for a duck to provide Bangladesh a strong start with the ball. At tea, Kusal Mendis (13*) and de Silva (37*) remained unbeaten.
Mahmudullah had already stitched a fifty-run partnership with Sunzamul Islam before lunch. He completed his half-century soon after the start of the second session of the day. Keeping most of the strike, Mahmudullah showed experience and kept adding more runs to Bangladesh’s scoreboard. He soon lost his Sunzamul when Lakshan Sandakan had him stumped. Rangana Herath and Suranga Lakmal got the last 2 wickets and finished with 3 each. Sandakan got 2, while Dilruwan Perera got the crucial wicket of Tamim Iqbal.
Mustafizur Rahman and Sunzamul opened bowling for Bangladesh but Mahmudullah soon brought in Mehedi as first change. Mehedi tasted success in his very first over. Karunaratne failed to read the turn in Mehedi’s delivery, edging it to Imrul Kayes at slip. He departed for a 9-ball duck.
However, this failed to dent the confidence of Sri Lanka batsmen. In his 37-run unbeaten innings, de Silva has already hit 7 fours. Sri Lanka trail by 463 runs at tea.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 513 (Tamim Iqbal 52, Mominul Haque 176, Mushfiqur Rahim 92, Mahmudullah 83*; Suranga Lakmal 3 for 68, Rangana Herath 3 for 150) lead Sri Lanka 50 for 1 (Kusal Mendis 13*, Dhananjaya de Silva 37*; Mehedi Hasan 1 for 11) by 463 runs
