Bangladesh kept their hopes of salvaging a draw alive in the first Test against Sri Lanka thanks to a solid start in the second innings by their openers at Galle on Friday.
Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar batted sensibly to remain unscathed as Bangladesh reached 67-0 at the end of fourth day’s play after Sri Lanka had set them a target of 457 runs in four sessions.
Sri Lankan skipper Rangana Herath looked quite perplexed as his bowlers could not provide them with any earlier breakthrough despite having a chance to bowl at least 15 overs in fading light.
Soumya led the batting charge for Bangladesh to remain unbeaten on 53, his
second half-century in the match and the third in as many Tests while Tamim was happy to play the role of an anchor with 13 not out.
The fourth day’s play ended 14 overs before the schedule due to bad light as thick cloud hovered over the ground, leaving umpires without any choice but to call off the play much to the frustration of the home side.
Umpires called the light metre once Sri Lankan skipper Herath handed the ball to medium pacer Asela Gunaratne, who could only bowl a rare back-foot no-ball in his first attempt to concede three runs.
He was not allowed to bowl again due to falling light, meaning Gunaratne had to leave the field with a perplexing figure of 0-0-3-0 having incidentally suffered a third-ball duck earlier with the bat.
Sri Lanka declared their second innings at 274-6 five overs into the session after local boy Upul Tharanga slammed his third Test century and the second against Bangladesh.
The play on the fourth day started 15 minutes before the schedule to make up for some of the lost time after rain washed out almost the entire final session the previous day.
Sri Lanka were cautious in their approach at the start of the second innings, scoring just 87 runs in the first session of the day as both the openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Tharanga took their time to settle down.
Taskin Ahmed removed Karunaratne for 32 to earn Bangladesh the first breakthrough before the break but it could not stop Sri Lanka from changing the gear in the second session.
They scored 160 runs in 31 ovrers in the post-lunch session, helping their captain to declare their innings without wasting too much time.
Tharanga completed his century in the process before he was bowled by Mehedi Hasan for 115 off 161 balls.
Other batsmen also chipped in with some useful runs, expediting the declaration.
They particularly targeted Sakib al Hasan, who conceded 104 runs in his 24 overs, though the all-rounder could manage two wickets.
Sakib’s two wickets included Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka’s first innings hero with 194 runs, who could score just 19 runs this time around.
Mehedi also did his part in checking the run flow with 2-77 runs.
Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar batted sensibly to remain unscathed as Bangladesh reached 67-0 at the end of fourth day’s play after Sri Lanka had set them a target of 457 runs in four sessions.
Sri Lankan skipper Rangana Herath looked quite perplexed as his bowlers could not provide them with any earlier breakthrough despite having a chance to bowl at least 15 overs in fading light.
Soumya led the batting charge for Bangladesh to remain unbeaten on 53, his
second half-century in the match and the third in as many Tests while Tamim was happy to play the role of an anchor with 13 not out.
The fourth day’s play ended 14 overs before the schedule due to bad light as thick cloud hovered over the ground, leaving umpires without any choice but to call off the play much to the frustration of the home side.
Umpires called the light metre once Sri Lankan skipper Herath handed the ball to medium pacer Asela Gunaratne, who could only bowl a rare back-foot no-ball in his first attempt to concede three runs.
He was not allowed to bowl again due to falling light, meaning Gunaratne had to leave the field with a perplexing figure of 0-0-3-0 having incidentally suffered a third-ball duck earlier with the bat.
Sri Lanka declared their second innings at 274-6 five overs into the session after local boy Upul Tharanga slammed his third Test century and the second against Bangladesh.
The play on the fourth day started 15 minutes before the schedule to make up for some of the lost time after rain washed out almost the entire final session the previous day.
Sri Lanka were cautious in their approach at the start of the second innings, scoring just 87 runs in the first session of the day as both the openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Tharanga took their time to settle down.
Taskin Ahmed removed Karunaratne for 32 to earn Bangladesh the first breakthrough before the break but it could not stop Sri Lanka from changing the gear in the second session.
They scored 160 runs in 31 ovrers in the post-lunch session, helping their captain to declare their innings without wasting too much time.
Tharanga completed his century in the process before he was bowled by Mehedi Hasan for 115 off 161 balls.
Other batsmen also chipped in with some useful runs, expediting the declaration.
They particularly targeted Sakib al Hasan, who conceded 104 runs in his 24 overs, though the all-rounder could manage two wickets.
Sakib’s two wickets included Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka’s first innings hero with 194 runs, who could score just 19 runs this time around.
Mehedi also did his part in checking the run flow with 2-77 runs.
Source: New Age
