After 2 early blows in the day, Sri Lankan batters Angelo Mathews & Dhananjaya de Silva compiled a gutsy partnership of 102 to bring the deficit down on a rain hit 3rd day at Mirpur as 39 overs were lost.
The overnight batters for the visitors, skipper Dimuth Karunaratne(80) & Kasun Rajitha(0) both were dismissed within the first hour of play to push Sri Lanka into the back foot. Mathews who had a mixed bag outing during the first game with a magnificent 199 and a disappointing 0 was on song once again as he absorbed the pressure of early wickets and accumulated runs choosing the lose deliveries well. De Silva on the other hand played the role of the aggressor as he looked for runs from the word go. He even scored 3 boundaries in a single over of Ebadot Hossain, two of them which were sweetly timed and one which was an outside edge.
The 5th wicket partnership continued to blossom for the visitors as de Silva reached his 10th test fifty and Mathews reached his 38th half-ton. Just as the partnership passed 100 and the scoring rate started to improve, Al Hasan struck a vital blow to take his 2nd wicket of the day. This dismissal was a result of a very good review by Bangladesh after an appeal for a caught behind was turned down by the on-field umpire.
Just before the Lunch break the match was interrupted by a passing shower which sized up and delayed the resumption of play by over 2 hours. The match resumed at 3.30 PM (Ban Time) with 37 overs remaining in the day as it was announced that the 4th & 5th day will begin 30 minutes earlier than usual.
With the fading light and floodlights turned on (along with complaints from the batters about sighting the ball) the 3rd day continued till 6.00 PM (Ban Time) as Mathews & Chandimal managed to survive after the dismissal of de Silva. Mathews who fought valiantly over the course of the day was unbeaten on 58 while his partner Dinesh Chandimal was looking solid on 10.
With a lead of 83 the hosts will be looking forward to knocking over the remaining 5 wickets as the pitch has already started to show some considerable spin while for Sri Lanka it’s a matter of getting a good lead over the 1st innings total of the hosts.
Result
Sri Lanka
506/10 (165.1) & 28/0 (3)
Bangladesh
365/9 (116.2) & 162/10 (55.3)
Batsmen
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Mahmudul Hasan Joy
b Kasun Rajitha
0
2
0
0
0.00
Tamim Iqbal
c Praveen Jayawickrama b Asitha Fernando
0
4
0
0
0.00
Najmul Hossain Shanto
b Kasun Rajitha
8
21
1
0
38.10
Mominul Haque
c Niroshan Dickwella b Asitha Fernando
9
9
2
0
100.00
Mushfiqur Rahim
not out
175
355
21
0
49.30
Shakib Al Hasan (vc)
lbw b Kasun Rajitha
0
1
0
0
0.00
Liton Das
c Kusal Mendis b Kasun Rajitha
141
246
16
1
57.32
Mosaddek Hossain
c Niroshan Dickwella b Kasun Rajitha
0
3
0
0
0.00
Taijul Islam
c Niroshan Dickwella b Asitha Fernando
15
37
0
0
40.54
Khaled Ahmed
c Niroshan Dickwella b Asitha Fernando
0
2
0
0
0.00
Ebadot Hossain
not out
0
20
0
0
0.00
Extras
17 (b 9 , lb 3 , nb 2, w 3, pen 0)
Total
365/9 (116.2 Overs, RR: 3.14)
Fall of Wickets
1-1 (0.2) Mahmudul Hasan Joy , 2-6 (1.4) Tamim Iqbal, 3-16 (5.1) Mominul Haque, 4-24 (6.4) Najmul Hossain Shanto, 5-24 (6.5) Shakib Al Hasan (vc), 6-296 (92.1) Liton Das, 7-296 (92.4) Taijul Islam, 8-349 (107.1) Khaled Ahmed,
