SL lose two by stumps after Mushfiqur ton put Bangladesh ahead
Sri Lanka lost the wickets of Oshada Fernando and Lasith Embuldeniya early in the second innings and were paced at 39/2 at stumps on Day 4, yesterday, trailing Bangladesh by 29 runs. Karunaratne was unbeaten on 18, and will be joined by Kusal Mendis, in all likelihood, today morning.
Bangladesh took a first innings lead of 68 runs on Day 4 of the ongoing first Test against Sri Lanka at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. After Sri Lanka posted 393, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim scored centuries as Bangladesh reached a total of 465.
Tamim and Mahmudul Hasan Joy added 162 runs for the first wicket before the latter was dismissed on 58. The hosts then lost two more wickets in quick succession before Mushfiqur and Litton Das steadied their ship. Das was dismissed on 88 while the wicketkeeper-batter was castled on a score of 105.
The start of the day started was delayed by 30 minutes because of rain but once play resumed, it did not take long for Mushfiqur to reach the 5000-run mark. He began the day just 15 runs away from the landmark and breached the milestone with a deflection off his gloves down to fine leg shortly after the first drinks break. Adopting a cautious approach, Mushfiqur surged ahead and soon reached his century after lunch, his first in Test cricket in more than a year.
Bangladesh resumed their day on 318 for 3, with Litton and Mushfiqur picking up from where they had left on the third evening. Both batters were cautious but made sure no wickets were lost as Bangladesh reached 385 for 3 at lunch. The Sri Lankan bowlers, much like the third evening, lacked the bite and could not get much out of the surface.
However, the visitors came back well in the second session. Rajitha struck straight after lunch, first removing Litton before uprooting Tamim’s middle stump the very next ball. Litton, in particular, would be kicking himself for missing a third Test hundred after edging an innocuous short and wide first ball after lunch to the wicketkeeper.
The ball to Tamim, though, was a good one. Coming back to bat after retiring hurt at tea on the third day, Tamim went for the expansive drive to a fuller delivery. However, Rajitha, bowling from around the wicket, got the ball to angle in and it crept between Tamim’s bat and pad to hit the middle stump.
Shakib, having survived a close chance at short leg, was rattled by a bouncer barrage from Asitha Fernando. He was hit by the pacer on the helmet, and soon after was dismissed going for the pull shot for 26.
(Agencies)