SL v BAN, 1st Test, Day 2 Review: Mehedi and openers help Bangladesh claw their way back

After a lacklustre opening day in the office for Bangladesh, the visitors turned it around on the 2nd day of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka and finished the day in a healthy position. The Sri Lankans were thoroughly professional on Day 1 with Kusal Mendis and Asela Gunaratne scoring a wonderful century and half-century respectively. Mendis carried on from where he left but gave away his wicket within striking distance of a well-deserved double century

Beginning the day’s play at 321/4, Dickwella struck a big six of Subhashis Roy to start of proceedings. He looked in ominous touch and along with Mendis, the duo looked to take Sri Lanka to a huge score. It was now the turn of Mendis to smash Subhashis for a six and he obliged duly. Things went from strength to strength but just as Sri Lanka was about to reach the 400 mark, Dickwella departed of the bowling off teenager Mehedi Hasan Miraj.

Dilruwan Perera walked out in the middle and struck some lusty blows. Meanwhile, Dickwella departed in the 110th over of Mehedi but the spin bowling all-rounder kept going. Perera smashed his way to a brilliant half century and was eventually dismissed by Mehedi Hasan at his personal score of 51. Sri Lanka was finally bowled out for 494 in the 130th over. Youngster Mehedi Hasan was the chief destroyer for the Bangla Tigers who finished with impressive figures of 4/113 in 22 overs.

In pursuit of a big score Bangladesh openers, Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar walked out in the middle. Iqbal began with a crisp drive of Lahiru Kumara which set the tone for the rest of the innings. Soumya Sarkar struck a wonderful cover drive to get off the mark but was dropped in the very next delivery. Iqbal then struck Dilruwan Perera for a couple of boundaries in the 6th over. The duo brought up the 50 partnership in the 19th over.

The duo played very sensibly and struck the occasional boundaries. Sarkar reached his 2nd Test half-century in the 30th over and also brought up the century partnership. Tamim reached his half-century in the very next over as the duo looked totally unruffled. But after sharing a brilliant 118 runs partnership for the opening a break in concentration from the Bangladesh batsmen gave Sri Lanka their maiden wicket. Misunderstanding while running between the wicket as Tamim was run out by Dickwella.

Mominul Haque joined Sarkar in the middle but before he could settle down the little man was trapped in front by Dilruwan Perera and there was no hesitation in the umpire’s mind in ruling it in favour of the bowling side. The Bangla Tigers eventually finished the day’s play at 133/2 with Soumya Sarkar and captain Mushfiqur Rahim in the crease.

While Sarkar is batting on 66, Rahim just opened his account and will to score some crucial runs for his team tomorrow morning. Sarkar found it really hard to pick chinaman bowler Lakshan Sandakan but somehow managed to preserve wicket for tomorrow. While Sri Lanka will look to finish of the Bangladesh innings at their earliest, the visitors will look to consolidate on a very impressive start provided by the openers.

Brief Scores

Sri Lanka 1st innings 494 all-out in 129.1 overs (Kusal Mendis 194, Asela Gunaratne 85, Niroshan Dickwella 75, Mehedi Hasan 4/113)

Bangladesh 1st innings 133/2 in 46 overs (Soumya Sarkar 66*, Tamim Iqbal 57, Dilruwan Perera 1/32)

Bangladesh trail by 361 runs