SL v BAN 2nd Test, Day 3 Review: Shakib’s century gives Bangladesh handy 1st inning lead

What the Bangladesh top order failed to do to an extent was more than made up by the other half of the batting unit. At 198/5 one would have imagined Bangladesh ending up a few runs short of Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 338 but the lower-middle order showed immense character and treated the Lankan bowlers with disdain to not only drain off the deficit but also take a handy 129-run lead.

It all revolved around their GOAT Shakib Al Hasan. With definite backing of luck, Shakib forged crucial partnerships twice today. Having resumed the day at 214/5 the allrounder was unbeaten on 14 while the skipper Mushfiqur Rahim had just arrived and scored a couple of runs. They added 92 runs together for the 6th wicket but just as Bangladesh looked to grab the momentum and march towards substantiality Mushfiqur lost his stumps to Suranga Lakmal after getting to his half century.

A collapse was predicted, such has been the case for the youngest Asian Test team away from home but Shakib was determined to not let anything of that sort happen in the all important 100th Test. He placed enough faith on debutant Mossadek Hossain and he responded well. There was stability, runs were coming and the batsmen looked at relative ease against both the pacers as well the spin bowlers led by Rangana Herath.

Adding runs in singles and with boundaries at a steady pace the Bangladeshi total crept past the first inning challenge ahead of them and this was just the second time that they took a lead playing on soil that was not theirs. Sri Lanka was the same opponent they had done it against in the past and enabled the repeat today. Shakib batted with precision and had the moment of joy as he got to his hundred; his fifth in Test cricket. He took 143 balls to get there and stroke 9 boundaries on his way to the century.

But it was important he carried on, and so did Bangladesh. Meanwhile Mosaddek exceeding expectations had scored his maiden Test half century. He was scoring at a healthy pace with margin risk but Bangladesh were escalating higher with every run that was added to the score. In the 114th over Lakshan Sandakan produced the delivery that got them rid of Shakib as he was caught by Dinesh Chandimal.

That, not before he had scored 116 runs and stayed in the middle for 159 balls his strike rate of almost 73 suggests for most part of it, he was dictating terms over the Lankans. Mehedi Hasan also contributed 24 runs but departed soon as the veteran Herath got into his rhythm. He didn’t allow Mustafizur Rahman to open his account and had Hossain stumped soon as well.

With that, Herath not only wrapped up the Bangladeshi innings but also completed 1000 first-class wickets and became the second bowler from the country after the great Muttiah Muralitharan to achieve the feat. Bangladesh was the happier unit though they would have liked to bat through the day but a 129 runs lead places them way ahead in the game.

With just around an hour of play left the visitors had the chance to unleash their bowlers and go for an all-out attack, Mushfiqur used 5 bowlers to deliver 13 overs but none of them managed to crack through the defence of Dimuth Karunaratne or Upul Tharanga and Sri Lanka concluded the day with 53 runs on the board without losing a wicket.

Brief Scores:

1st innings

Sri Lanka: 338/10 (Dinesh Chandimal 138; Mehedi Hasan 3/90)

 Bangladesh: 467/10 (Shakib Al Hasan 116; Rangana Herath 4/82)

2nd innings

Sri Lanka: 54/0 in 13 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 25*, Upul Tharanga 25*)