Bangladesh’s hopes of a rare win in Test has been cut short by hosts Sri Lanka as the home side after day four of the ongoing Test at Pallakele International Cricket Stadium Saturday finished wicketless.
Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne registered his maiden double century in the longest format and remained unbeaten on 234 with Dhananjaya de Silva not out on 154 at the other end of the crease to frustrate Bangladesh bowlers.
Day four of the game started with Sri Lanka resuming on their overnight score of 229 for three and a record partnership, 322 runs - the highest for the fourth wicket in Sri Lanka, beating the 258 between Michael Hussey and Shaun Marsh from 2011, saw Sri Lanka post 512 without any further loss of wicket in the innings.
At stumps, Sri Lanka trailed by 29 runs.
Bangladesh bowled 76 overs on the day but had zero yields as play ended 53 minutes before schedule due to two interruptions of bad light in the last session.
The pitch at the Kandy venue turned out to be opposite to expectations.
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.
At last the much awaited away century came for Mominul Haque.
Posted by Sports Tribune on Thursday, 22 April 2021
“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 Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed to the media following the day’s play Saturday.
Bangladesh had a flying start to the game with the bat by putting up a mammoth total.
Majority were anticipating a win for the visitors which now, is in jeopardy.
A draw is in the offing many now believes.
Going into the fifth day of the game Taskin speaking of Bangladesh’s aim said, “Greatest possibility is for the game to end in a draw. But having said that, cricket is a funny game, the course can change any time. Our bowlers have to be more calculative if the wicket remains same in the second. We will have to focus and target the batter’s weaknesses. You do not have much else to do here.
“In Test, the basic is to bowl consistently. Bowl at a good length and surprise the batsmen with bouncers. There were a few chances but it either landed in gap or went for boundaries. I believe this is a very good batting track. We do not have much to do on this track except to be patient and bowl in the right areas.”
