Najmul Hossain Shanto stroked a nearly chanceless maiden century on day 1 of the 1st Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the Pallekelle International Stadium, putting the visitors on top at the end of the day’s proceedings.
Shanto gave a chance early on in his innings, when he nicked one behind off the bowling of Dhananjaya de Silva but Niroshan Dickwella was unable to hold on to the tough chance. Apart from that early mistake, 22-year-old was solid in defense, capitalizing on the loose deliveries on offer by the Sri Lankan bowlers to make his 1st Test hundred.
The left-hander played the perfect foil to opener Tamim Iqbal, who scored a fluent 90 off just 101 deliveries. Iqbal was looking well set to go to his 10th Test hundred, before guiding one straight to Lahiru Thirimanne at slip.
His dismissal brought skipper Mominul Haque to the crease and although the run-rate slowed down, both Mominul and Shanto looked unfazed by what the Sri Lankans had to offer as they piled on the runs in the 3rd session, ending the day with an unfinished partnership of 150 runs.
Earlier in the day, Bangladesh won the toss and surprisingly opted to bat on a pitch that had a tinge of green to it. Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne seemed to be happy with the option of bowling first, particularly as Vishwa Fernando struck with just the 12th delivery of the day, trapping Saif Hassan LBW on review.
However, it was all downhill from there as Sri Lanka looked flat and unthreatening and the Bangladeshis made the most of it. Iqbal and Shanto put together 144 runs for the 2nd wicket before the latter and skipper Mominul went on to make 150.
Karunaratne used up all his bowling options, with even Angelo Mathews called on to roll his arm over, but to no avail, as Fernando finished as the only wicket-taker of the day.
Interestingly, Sri Lanka had expressed that they were looking at utilizing pace against the tourists, with a green-top on offer. However, despite playing three seamers for the 1st time since 2015in a home Test, the wicket seemed to have deceived the hosts, offering very little to the bowlers once the ball got older.
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