Twitter Reactions: Angelo Mathews' 199 puts Sri Lanka in command in Chattogram

Nayeem Hasan finished off with six wickets in his cap

By Vaishnavi Thiagarajan Iyer

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Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis
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Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis. (Photo Source: Twitter)

After a brilliant first day, Sri Lanka had aims to continue their lead and end the day on a big note. They executed their plans well in the first session as Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews put up a brilliant 136 runs partnership on the board. Though it took the batters to settle on the spin attack, they took full advantage of the pace.

The batters had an answer to every trick of Bangladesh bowlers, but just one over changed the face of the game. Nayeem Hasan’s introduction into the attack proved useful for the hosts as he scalped Chandimal (66 off 148) and Niroshan Dickwella (3 off 3) in the same over, giving his side the much-needed breakthrough.

The second session started off on a high note for the hosts, as Shakib Al Hasan managed to pick two more wickets as he dismissed Ramesh Mendis for just a solitary run and scalped Lasith Embuldeniya for a golden duck. But the Bangladeshi attack had no answer to Mathews’ attack. Just when it seemed like Bangladesh would end their innings quickly in the day, Mathews and Vishwa Fernando stood strong and kept the scoreboard ticking with the former doing most of the work.

However, Mathews (199 off 397) fantastic knock came to a sad end as he fell just one run short of his second Test double century. Bangladesh bowled Sri Lanka out, preventing them from reaching the 400-run mark. It was crucial to get runs in the first innings, and the visitors will be pleased with their performance after losing a slew of wickets at one stage.

The Bangladesh bowlers had a difficult time bowling for lengthy periods of time due to the circumstances, with the Sri Lankan batsmen also putting up a strong fight. With the ball, Nayeem was indeed the standout, bagging six wickets as Sri Lanka ended with 397.

Bangladesh take the upper hand at the end of day two

Bangladesh had a terrific start to their innings as Tamim Iqbal (35* off 52) batted superbly and Mahmudul Hasan Joy (31* off 66) backed him with tremendous assistance in a magnificent opening stand. The batters’ intent was evident as they took advantage of every scoring opportunity. Sri Lanka would have hoped to take early wickets but were unable to do so as they lacked consistency with the ball.

The hosts ended the day without losing a single wicket, scoring 76 runs. They will have to continue their momentum in order to come as close to Sri Lanka’s total as possible, if not surpass it. It’s still an excellent batting pitch, and thus the visitors will have to work their best to restrict Bangladesh from getting close to it when they start on the third day.

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