SL 648 for eight at Lunch

SL 648 for eight at Lunch

Bangladesh bowlers took five wickets on the morning session of the fifth and final day of the first Test as Sri Lanka declared their first innings on 648/8 after 179 overs taking 107 runs lead at lunch in the first innings at Kandy on Sunday. Suranga Lakmal (23) and Vishwa Fernando (0) were currently batting at the crease.

After a frustrating wicketless day for the Bangladesh bowlers on day four, it was Taskin Ahmed who removed both the centurions Dimuth Karunaratne (244) Dhananjaya de Silva (166) after the pair added a mammoth 345 runs to the total to help Sri Lanka take lead in the first innings.

Ebadot Hossain then join the party to get rid of Pathum Nissanka (12) followed by the run out of Niroshan Dickwella (31) when Sri Lanka were trying to add some quick runs to the score. Taijul Islam took his second wicket of the innings when he removed PWH de Silva (43).

Earlier, Bangladesh declared their innings scoring 541 losing seven wickets as Mushfiqur Rahim was batting on 68 when Tigers made the declaration on day three. Nazmul Hossain Shanto struck 163 and captain Mominul Haque 127 helped Bangladesh to post a commanding 474 runs for the loss of four wickets at stumps on day two.

Ahead of the game, the green top had made the teams think of deploying a few pacers but as it happened, it remained flat like it has been from the first day of the game, and Bangladesh bowling was on the modest side to find a break through on the whole fourth day.

“It becomes tough for the bowlers in Test on such wicket. You will see that even they struggled. (Suranga) Lakmal bowled 35 overs when we batted. Others did pretty well. You get to create fewer chances because of the wicket. Even the best of deliveries are being hit for boundaries. We declared scoring 541. It would have been good had there been some help from the wicket. It was a tough day for the bowlers,” said Taskin to the media following the fourth day’s play Saturday.

BRIEF SCORES:
Sri Lanka 1st innings: 648/8 in 179 overs (Lakmal 23*, Fernando 0*, Karunaratne 244, Dhananjaya de Silva 166, Taskin 3/112, Taijul 2/164, Ebadot 1/99)
Bangladesh 1st innings: 541/7d in 173 overs (Shanto 163, Mominul 127, Fernando 4/96)
Day 5 - Lunch: Sri Lanka lead by 107 runs