Roshen Silva remained unbeaten on 54 Getty Images
Roshen Silva remained unbeaten on 58 Getty Images

Day One saw 14 wickets fall and Day Two followed suit. At this rate the match is likely to conclude in the second session of Day Three. All the same, Sri Lanka have the momentum. They lead by 312 runs with two wickets in hand. If Bangladesh are to chase such a colossal target, they will have to bat out of their skins. And the only path to accomplish is that of counterattack, something Dhananjaya de Silva and Roshen Silva practised today. Here’s how the day panned out:

Lakmal starts Bangladesh’s downfall

Suranga Lakmal let Liton Das add a mere run to his overnight score. His round-arm action fooled Liton into thinking that he can scythe an outswinger away from his body. All he managed was an inside edge onto the stumps, becoming Lakmal’s third victim.

Bangladesh leave Mehedi Hasan stranded

34-run stand between Mehedi and Mahmudullah revived Bangladesh’s hopes, but what followed what devastating for the Bangladeshi fans. They lost their last 5 wickets for 3 runs. Dananjaya shot down three of them. The No. 6 Mehedi remained unbeaten on 34.

Sri Lanka start steady

Abdur Razzak had Kusal Mendis LBW for 7, but Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva steadied the innings thereafter. Dhananjaya, especially, played fluently before the ball would misbehave on a spinning track. His 28 off 24 put Bangladesh off the rail.

And then, Sri Lanka lose the plot

From 53 for 1, Sri Lanka were throttled to 92 for 4. After Razzak persistently troubled Karunaratne, Mehedi exploited Karunaratne’s dip in confidence and removed him for 32.

Sri Lanka were lucky that their captain Dinesh Chandimal showed character. His 30 put Sri Lanka back in the front seat.

Mustafizur on hat-trick

Mustafizur, at the stroke of stumps, pumped up his team with double strike. He got both Dilruwan Perera and Dananjaya caught behind. Given he was on a hat-trick, the wicketkeeper came up to pressurise the batsman. But Mustafizur strayed down, though Liton did well to grab it.

Sri Lanka 222 (Kusal Mendis 68, Roshen Silva 56, Dilruwan Perera 31; Abdur Razzak 4 for 63, Taijul Islam 4 for 83, Mustafizur Rahman 2 for 17) and 200 for 8 (Roshen Silva 58*; Mustafizur Rahman 3 for 35) lead Bangladesh 110 (Imrul Kayes 19, Liton Das 25, Mehedi Hasan 38*; Suranga Lakmal 3 for 25, Akila Dhananjaya 3 for 20) by 312 runs.

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