Sports
Sri Lanka move up in World Test Championship after big win
A big 328-run win in the first Test against Bangladesh in Sylhet helped Sri Lanka to make steady progress in the World Test Championship. Sri Lanka were placed last in the points table before yesterday but moved up to number six having collected 12 points from the first Test that ended inside four days.
England have now slumped to last and a win in the second Test in Chittagong will see Sri Lanka move to fourth place in the World Test Championship behind India, Australia and New Zealand.
Sri Lanka owed the win to their middle order pair of Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis, who scored hundreds in each innings rescuing the side on both occasions after top order collapses. It was only the third occasion in a Test match batters from the same side had hit twin hundreds.
It was a remarkable performance by the bowlers too as the three quicks shared all 20 wickets to fall. Kasun Rajitha picked up career best figures of five for 54 in the second innings to finish the game with eight wickets.
Left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando had seven wickets in the game while Lahiru Kumara, although down on pace, picked up five wickets. Prabath Jayasuriya failed to pick up a wicket in the game, something rare for the ever reliable left-arm spin bowler.
Bangladesh had prepared a grassy wicket with pace and bounce hoping their much-improved quicks will make an impact. But the ploy backfired as Sri Lanka’s batters – Dhananjaya and Kamindu – in particular did the hard work to provide their side decent totals.
With runs on the board, Sri Lanka’s quicks then had a field day bowling to attacking fields.
Bangladesh resumed day four on 47 for five and it was a matter of how long they can bat on the penultimate day. They were bowled out after lunch to hand Sri Lanka a 1-0 advantage in the two-match series.
Nightwatchman Taijul Islam was dismissed in the first ball he faced as Rajitha trapped him leg before wicket.
A 66 runs stand for the seventh wicket followed between Mehidy Hasan and Mominul Haque. Rajitha again found the breakthrough when he had got Mehidy to drive and the outside edge was snapped up by Dhananjaya de Silva at second slip.
Rajitha had a fourth wicket when he took a sharp return catch to dismiss Shoriful Islam. He picked up a second five wicket haul in Test cricket when Khaled Ahmed was caught behind.
Mominul was left stranded on 87 as Kumara picked up the last wicket to fall.
Dhananjaya was named Man of the Match.
Playing just his second Test and the first in his team’s starting XI, Pasindu Sooriyabandara made Sri Lanka dream of the rarest of possibilities, but reality imposed itself on the SSC late on day four as India regained their grip on a Test match that had seemed to spiral out of control after the threat of bad weather led them to enforce the follow-on.
After Sooriyabandara put on 58 with Kamil Mishara for the second wicket and 115 with Kamindu Mendis for the third, Sri Lanka were at one stage 209 for 3, or just four runs behind with seven second-innings wickets in hand, on a day-four pitch that was still looking excellent for batting. India’s bowlers were into their 149th over across two consecutive innings, and looking short of both penetration and inspiration against a top order that had never allowed them to settle into their lengths.
Just then, however, Manav Suthar, who had borne the brunt of Sri Lanka’s positive intent, dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva and then Sooriyabandara in the space of two overs, the latter out eight short of a maiden Test hundred. Soon after, Saransh Jain trapped Niroshan Dickwella lbw, and Sri Lanka were effectively 5 for 6. By the time rain arrived to bring an early end to the day, Sri Lanka’s seventh-wicket pair had only added a further 11 runs to their tally.
If Sri Lanka still retain any hope going into the final day of this series, it will rest on the shoulders of Sonal Dinusha, batting on 7 in his final innings of a remarkable series. Earlier in the day, he had converted his overnight 85 into his second century of the series, with his only other completed innings bringing him 84.
Scores:
Sri Lanka 290 in 89.4 overs (Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80, Sonal Dinusha 103; Prasidh Krishna 3-52, Manav Suthar 3-85) and 229 for 6 in 72.4 overs (f/o) (Pasindu Sooriyabandara 92, Kamindu Mendis 55, Sonal Dinusha 7*; Manav Suthar 2-81) lead India 503 for 9 dec by 16 runs
[Cricinfo]
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