Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam broke the opening stand of Sri Lanka at 47 on the third morning of the Galle Test, following Bangladesh’s first innings total of 495.
Pathum Nissanka and debutant Lahiru Udara made 47 runs quickly in the opening stand. Udara was the first to fall. It was a soft dismissal with a return catch to the bowler Taijul.
Bangladesh were at 484 for nine at the end of day two. They fell short of five runs from posting 500.
The third day of the Galle Test, Bangladesh's first innings came to a quick end against hosts Sri Lanka on thursday morning,, lasting just 3.4 overs. Starting the day at 484 for 9, the Tigers could only add 11 runs to their total.
Nahid Rana was dismissed for a duck, caught by Kusal Mendis off the bowling of Asitha Fernando. With his dismissal, Bangladesh were all out for 495 in their first innings.
Hasan Mahmud remained unbeaten on 7 at the other end.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first in the opening Test of the series in Galle, but the start was far from ideal.
Enamul Haque Bijoy opened the innings with Shadman Islam but failed to get off the mark after facing 10 balls. Bangladesh lost their first wicket with just 5 runs on the board.
Following the early loss, Shadman and Mominul tried to build a partnership, but it didn’t last beyond 34 runs. The stand was broken when Shadman was dismissed for 14 off 53 balls. After his departure, Mominul also fell soon after, scoring 29 off 33 balls in an aggressive approach. With three wickets down for 45 runs, Bangladesh found themselves in trouble.
However, the team staged a recovery through the batting of skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim.
On the day, Shanto scored his sixth Test century off 202 balls, followed shortly by a century from Mushfiqur. The first day’s play ended soon after Mushfiqur reached his hundred.
On Wednesday, during the first hour of play, Shanto, who had scored a century the previous day, was dismissed. He made a brilliant 148 off 279 balls, hitting 15 fours and 1 six. The partnership between Shanto and Mushfiqur produced 264 runs.
Despite Shanto’s dismissal, Bangladesh didn’t falter much as Mushfiqur and Liton Das took charge. A rain interruption halted play for two and a half hours during the middle of the day. Before the delay, Mushfiqur reached his seventh 150-plus score in Tests, while Liton notched his 18th Test fifty.
Sri Lanka made a comeback in the third session. Asitha Fernando trapped Mushfiqur leg before wicket. Mushfiq scored 163 off 350 balls, hitting 9 fours. Liton, meanwhile, was closing in on a century but was trapped LBW for 90 while attempting a reverse sweep off Milan Rathnayake’s leg-side delivery.
After Liton’s dismissal, Zakir Ali (8), Nayeem Hasan (11), and Taijul Islam (6) followed back to the dressing room in quick succession. The day’s play ended due to bad light.
On Thursday, the third day of the Test, unbeaten batters Hasan Mahmud and Nahid Rana resumed Bangladesh’s innings. However, within about 15 minutes, Sri Lanka wrapped up the innings. Bangladesh added just 11 runs to their overnight score.
Bd-pratidin English/ ANI
