CHITTAGONG: In the second and final Test on Tuesday, Sri Lanka was just one wicket away from capturing yet another dominant victory because to the efforts of Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, and Kamindu Mendis.
After four days of play in Chittagong, Bangladesh was 268-7 at stumps, needing 243 runs to win by an unlikely margin.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz led the game into the fifth day with an undefeated knock of 44, while Taijul Islam followed on 10.
The only other batsman to muster an effort was Mominul Haque, who reached 50 off 56 balls before being removed in the final over before tea.
Mominul refuted the claim that the group was ill-prepared.
“Playing international Test matches and domestic cricket is very different,” he remarked.
Following Mominul’s dismissal, Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das shared 61 runs for the fifth wicket.
As Nishan Madushka made an amazing reflex catch at silly point to eliminate Shakib for 36, off-spinner Kamundu broke the stand.
After failing to get a pull shot off Kumara, Liton was out for 38 three overs later.
Mehidy and Shahadat Hossain had another promising partnership of 46 runs till Kamindu broke it, trapping the latter leg for just 15.
“SOLID POSITION”
Mahmudul Hasan (24), Zakir Hasan (19), the team’s captain Najmul Hossain Shanto (20), and other openers were all cheaply returned.
Mahmudul was dismissed by Jayasuriya, ending the 37-run opening stand.
At slip, Zakir let Dhananjaya de Silva catch a ball off Vishwa Fernando, and Lahiru cut the bail of Najmul’s off-stump.
Chris Silverwood, the coach of Sri Lanka, commended Bangladesh’s tenacity.
Bangladesh performed well today, in my opinion. They made it tough for us and put the onus back on the bowlers,” he remarked. “There were times when we could have bowled better, but I think we bowled well in patches,” he continued.
“Thankfully, our hard work has put us in a strong position. I don’t think we quite had the consistency with the ball in this innings as we showed in the first innings.”
After batting for a little more than an hour to add 55 runs to their overnight total after rejoining on 102-6, Sri Lanka declared at 157-7.
Leading scorer with 56 runs was Angelo Mathews, who was undefeated after 39 overs. Shakib bowled him after he reached his 41st fifty Test wicket. When the declaration was made on 28 June, Jayasuriya was undefeated and Vishwa Fernando was eight wickets up.
Hasan Mahmud, a rookie fast bowler, finished with 4-65 for Bangladesh. Dinesh Chandimal was missing in action for Sri Lanka after returning home due to a family issue.
In the first Test at Sylhet, Sri Lanka, who had never lost a Test series against Bangladesh, crushed the hosts by 328 runs.
