Bangladesh spinner Mehedi Hasan (L) celebrates the wicket of Sri Lankan batsman Kusal Mendis (C) during the first day of their second Test at the P Sara Oval Cricket Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday.— AFP photo
Bangladesh will be looking to bowl out Sri Lanka under 300 runs by picking up the remaining three wickets after their spirited performance on the opening day of the second Test at Colombo on Wednesday.
Bangladeshi bowlers stuck to their game plan from the very beginning and kept putting pressure on their opponents for the entire day to leave the home side restricted to 238-7 when the stumps were drawn.
Tigers could not have asked for a better start to mark their 100th Test match as they came up with a re-energised body language to back their bowlers at the P Sara Oval.
Batsman Sabbir Rahman said he was optimistic about their chances of dismissing the hosts inside 300 runs on the back of the effort put up by their bowlers.
‘It is possible to bowl them [Sri Lanka] under 300 runs,’ Sabbir told reporters after opening day’s play.
‘We need to take three more wickets, and having already bowled seven good balls to take their wickets, we can keep them within 300.
‘We need to do it within the first hour of play tomorrow [today],’ he said pointing that it would help them to gain some early momentum.
Sabbir credited bowlers for making early inroads by sticking to their game plans of stopping their opponents from scoring runs freely as it was expected to create pressure and force them to play rash shots.
Left-arm pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman showed sign of returning back to his former self by consistently bowling in the right areas with varied pace and swing coupled with his famed cutters.
His opening partner Subashis Roy also showed promise with the ball while young off-spin prodigy Mehedi Hasan came up with an outstanding bowling performance and looked to lead the spin-trio that includes Sakib al Hasan and Taijul Islam.
‘Our plan was to cut out the runs, bowl dot balls,’ said Sabbir.
‘We created opportunities and then we held on to them. The wicket is good but we bowled in the right areas,’ he said.
‘They got out because we created dot-ball pressure,’ he said.
However, visitors seemed unlucky as Dinesh Chandimal, who is fighting the lone battle with his unbeaten 86 runs survived two scares during his 210-ball patient knock.
Tigers were heartbroken when his top-edge was given a benefit of doubt by third umpire as the replay of Mehedi’s fine diving effort at fine leg remained inconclusive with Chandimal batting at 46.
‘It was a 50-50 chance, and it is likely that he didn’t understand that he took it on the first bounce. It was hard for him to understand but he [Mehedi] tried really well,’ he said.
‘We were quite sure of the Chandimal wicket but it wasn’t given unfortunately,’ he said when the left-hander was given lbw against Sakib only to survive after taking a review.
Source: New Age
