Silva fifty puts Sri Lanka in command

RoshenSilva hit an unbeaten half-century to put Sri Lanka in command of thesecond Test after stretching their lead to 312 against Bangladesh inDhaka yesterday.The visitors reached 200-8 at stumps on day two intheir second innings. The batting effort came after debutant spinnerAkila Dananjaya led an inspirational attack to dismiss Bangladesh for110 in the morning session.Silva was batting on 58, his second fiftyin the game, which came amid a regular fall of wickets on what seemed adifficult batting pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Thehighest successful run-chase at the ground is England’s 209-1 againstthe hosts in 2010.“I don’t think it is possible to get more than 300runs 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 getmore than 300-plus runs actually.“We passed it,” added Silva, playing just his third Test since his debut in India last year.SurangaLakmal, who claimed three wickets with his pace bowling, was keepingSilva company on seven as the islanders kept building on their sizeablefirst-innings lead of 112.Paceman Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets while spinners Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan Miraz claimed two each.OpenerKusal Mendis was out early after veteran left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaktrapped the batsman leg-before for seven. Left-handed opener DimuthKarunaratne, who made 32, and Dhananjaya de Silva, who hit 28, gotstarts but failed to convert them into bigger scores.Silva got tothe grind building crucial partnerships including a 51-run fifth-wicketstand with skipper Dinesh Chandimal, who made 30. Bangladesh’s Mehediwas hoping against hope for a turnaround. “Anything can happen incricket. You can lose wickets for zero or one or two runs. It can happenin the first innings,” the allrounder said.“But if we can learnfrom our mistakes from the first innings then I believe we can performwell in the second innings and can win the match.”EarlierBangladesh, who started the day on 56-4 in response to Sri Lanka’s 222,faltered against Dananjaya’s mystery spin that rattled the hosts’ middleand lower-order.Dananjaya, who is playing his first Test after 19one-day internationals and nine Twenty20 games, returning impressivefigures of 3-20. The 24-year-old Dananjaya has off-spin as his stockdelivery but can can surprise the batsmen with leg-spin googly andcarrom balls.Dananjaya cleaned up skipper Mahmudullah Riyad for 17,and got two more wickets in Sabbir Rahman – out for a duck – and Razzakto flatten the Bangladesh batting. The first Test ended in a draw inChittagong.