Sri Lanka maintain advantage despite late Bangladesh fightback

Fuelled by their pace trio of Vishwa Fernando (4-48), Lahiru Kumara (3-31) and Kasun Rajitha (3-56), Sri Lanka continued to hold the advantage at stumps on day two of the first Test against Bangladesh in Sylhet. Resuming the day at a shaky 32/3, Bangladesh continued to lose wickets in clusters. While some of the wickets were due to indecision in shot-making, the other batters played loose shots that weren’t in sync with the nature of the pitch. Nightwatchman Taijul Islam (47) was ironically the batter with the strongest temperament and ended up being top-scorer in the innings.

It was Kumara who started the collapse on day two by getting rid of Mahmudul Hasan Joy early in the morning. Shahadat Hossain and Litton Das both got starts but Kumara ensured that neither batter was able to convert them into bigger scores. Vishwa and Rajitha then returned to mop up the tail which did show some fight to help the hosts limit the first innings deficit. That little fightback spurred into the bowling as well with debutant Nahid Rana (2-42) leading the pack for the home side in the final session. Dimuth Karunaratne’s fifty propped Sri Lanka up he found very little support at the other end with Angelo Mathews failing to convert a start.

Skipper and first innings centurion Dhananjaya de Silva is still out there with fellow first innings centurion Kamindu yet to bat. While Sri Lanka are in shaky terrains as far as this innings is concerned, the lead of 92 gained from the first innings has beefed up their position in the game on a pitch that has gotten increasingly difficult to bat on.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 280 and 119/5 (Dimuth Karunaratne 52, Angelo Mathews 22, Dhananjaya de Silva 23*; Nahid Rana 2-42) lead  Bangladesh 188 (Taijul Islam 47; Vishwa Fernando 4-48, Lahiru Kumara 3-31, Kasun Rajitha 3-56) by 211 runs