The comeback after a year for Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis was more than decent as he claimed four important wickets in the Bangladesh first innings to push the home side on the back foot.
Mendis was positive about their chances of winning the match and said, “We have to take two wickets and then we will see. We will try to win this match because we played positive cricket.”
The spinner played his last Test against Bangladesh in Galle in March last year, where he was hammered by the Bangladeshi batsman, giving away 152 runs backed by only two wickets. Later he suffered from back pain which eventually cost him his place in the Test side, but he informed that he is fully fit now and is ready to perform.
“Actually, my back was a bit down due to injury and it took me time to recover, so I was going slow but now I can bowl everything,” he said.
Mendis got the wickets of the two centurions Shamsur Rahman and Imrul Kayes while he also returned Nasir Hossain and Sohag Gazi in consecutive deliveries to put the visitors in a strong position by the end of the day, the day which was initially dominated by the host batters.
“I am really happy because I am playing a Test match after one year. Actually they batted well, because number 3 and 4 played very patiently but after that we did well,” he added.
However, the Lankans were sloppy at the field yesterday where they dropped three catches while Mendis was also denied a wicket for over stepping. “Can’t help it maybe the guys were a little tired today. Not much I can do, because everyone can’t hold onto catches all the time. It happens,” he said.