ZCZC
BSP-11
CRICKECT-DAY-3-TEA
Sri Lanka reaches 114-1 at tea
DHAKA, April 23, 2021 (BSS)- Sri Lanka made a strong reply by reaching 114-1 at tea on the day three of the first cricket Test against Bangladesh at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium at Kandy on Friday.
They are still trailing by 427 runs after Bangladesh declared their first innings on 541-7. Sri Lanka needs to score 342 firstly to avoid follow-on.
But on a wicket that looked utterly dead, Sri Lanka openers found it easier to rotate their scoreboard.
Bangladesh bowlers also lacked imagination to how to bowl on this placid deck but on the stroke of the tea, left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz found the right line and length.
They however cut the scoring rate of the Lankan openers and thereby created pressure, which resulted in claiming the wicket of Lahiru Thirimanne who looked to have destined for big score.
But Mehidy baffled him with his flight to have him leg-before for 58. He reviewed the decision in vain.
At the second interval of the day, his fellow opener and captain Dimuth Karunaratne was batting on 43.
Earlier, For Bangladesh, Nazmul Hossain Shanto led the charge with an epic 163, his maiden century, which was complemented by skipper Mominul Haque’s maiden ton on foreign soil. Mominul made 127.
Mushfiqur Rahim contributed with 68 while Liton Das scored 50.
The 541-7 dec, was the Tigers third highest first innings total on foreign soil with the highest also coming in Sri Lanka when they scored 638 in 2013 thanks to a maiden double century of Mushfiqur Rahim. The second highest was 595, which came against New Zealand in Wellington in 2017.
Vishwa Fernando claimed 4-96 to be highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in this innings while Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara and Dananjaya de Silva picked up one wicket apiece.
BSS/SMP/MMA/1555HRS