Roshen
Silva hit an unbeaten half-century to put Sri Lanka in command of the
second Test after stretching their lead to 312 against Bangladesh in
Dhaka yesterday.
The visitors reached 200-8 at stumps on day two in
their second innings. The batting effort came after debutant spinner
Akila Dananjaya led an inspirational attack to dismiss Bangladesh for
110 in the morning session.
Silva was batting on 58, his second fifty
in the game, which came amid a regular fall of wickets on what seemed a
difficult batting pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. The
highest successful run-chase at the ground is England’s 209-1 against
the hosts in 2010.
“I don’t think it is possible to get more than 300
runs on this wicket. It is common sense but cricket is a funny game,”
Silva told reporters. “We bowled them out for 100 and we wanted to get
more than 300-plus runs actually.
“We passed it,” added Silva, playing just his third Test since his debut in India last year.
Suranga
Lakmal, who claimed three wickets with his pace bowling, was keeping
Silva company on seven as the islanders kept building on their sizeable
first-innings lead of 112.
Paceman Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets while spinners Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan Miraz claimed two each.
Opener
Kusal Mendis was out early after veteran left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak
trapped the batsman leg-before for seven. Left-handed opener Dimuth
Karunaratne, who made 32, and Dhananjaya de Silva, who hit 28, got
starts but failed to convert them into bigger scores.
Silva got to
the grind building crucial partnerships including a 51-run fifth-wicket
stand with skipper Dinesh Chandimal, who made 30. Bangladesh’s Mehedi
was hoping against hope for a turnaround. “Anything can happen in
cricket. You can lose wickets for zero or one or two runs. It can happen
in the first innings,” the allrounder said.
“But if we can learn
from our mistakes from the first innings then I believe we can perform
well in the second innings and can win the match.”
Earlier
Bangladesh, who started the day on 56-4 in response to Sri Lanka’s 222,
faltered against Dananjaya’s mystery spin that rattled the hosts’ middle
and lower-order.
Dananjaya, who is playing his first Test after 19
one-day internationals and nine Twenty20 games, returning impressive
figures of 3-20. The 24-year-old Dananjaya has off-spin as his stock
delivery but can can surprise the batsmen with leg-spin googly and
carrom balls.
Dananjaya cleaned up skipper Mahmudullah Riyad for 17,
and got two more wickets in Sabbir Rahman – out for a duck – and Razzak
to flatten the Bangladesh batting. The first Test ended in a draw in
Chittagong.
Sri Lanka’s Suranga Lakmal (left) and Roshen Silva (right) walk off the field after the second day of the second Test against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka yesterday. (AFP)