Batters irresponsibility dismay bowlers pride

Sri Lanka led by 211 runs at the end of day two of the first of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh as the visitors ended the day with 119 runs for five wickets in their second innings at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet on Saturday after wrapping up Bangladesh for 188 runs.

Resuming from overnights 31 runs for three wickets, Bangladesh continued to lose wickets in the earlier part of the day. Overnight batter Mahmudul Hasan Joy added three to his previous days nine runs. Shahadat Hossain Dipu managed 18 runs, while Liton Das contributed 25 runs as the Bangladesh tail was exposed early.

However, Bangladesh bowlers fought back with the bat. Taijul Islam, who came to bat as a night watchman in the last minutes of Fridays game, was the leading scorer for Bangladesh with 47 runs, while Mehidy Hasan Miraz contributed 11 runs, Shoriful Islam 15 and Khaled Ahmed scored 22 runs. On Friday afternoon, Zakir Hasan departed for nine runs, while both Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque got out cheaply for five runs.
Vishwa Fernando took four wickets for Sri Lanka with Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara sharing the remaining wickets equally.

Sri Lanka thereby, gained a 92-run lead as they posted 280 runs in their first innings, riding on respective 102-run innings from both Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka suffered an early setback in their second innings as opener Nishan Madushka was dismissed for 10 runs, Kusal Mendis for two, Angelo Mathews for 22 and Dinesh Chandimal for a duck.

Dimuth Karunaratne scored a fifty before returning to the dugout, with 52 runs next to his name. Dhananjaya and night watchman Fernando remained unbeaten scoring 23 and two runs respectively.

Debutant Nahid Rana, who claimed three wickets in the first innings, picked up two in the second innings as well, while Taijul, Miraz and Shoriful each took one wicket.