Twitter Reactions: Karunaratne, De Silva build a safe haven for Sri Lanka in the Pallekele Test
Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam have bowled a combined tally of 91 overs out of 149 but managed only one wicket, which came on the third day.
After the fourth day’s play in Pallekele, it can well be said that the opening Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is heading towards a draw. At the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, not a single wicket fell on the fourth day as the Lankans ended the day with their score at 512 for three and a trail of a mere 29 runs ahead of them. Meanwhile, the Bangladesh bowlers kept struggling.
Karunaratne notches a ton
Coming into the fourth day’s play, overnight batters Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva had a massive task at hand to bail their team out of jail. They played out the first session without much trouble and the Lankans went into Lunch with the score of 331 for three. In the first session itself, skipper Karunaratne notched up a century off 247 balls, showing a great deal of patience.
De Silva had also gotten his eyes in, having scored 74 runs. The Tigers took the second new ball in the 81st over, but without much success. In the second session, the Lankans notched 111 runs in 30 overs, denying Bangladesh any chance of making a comeback. De Silva got to his ton off 153 balls and played with a lot of fluency. At Tea, Karunaratne was on the verge of a double ton, scoring 184.
Karunaratne and De Silva guide Sri Lanka
The left-hander racked up the double century off 387 balls. Dhananjaya didn’t show any signs of nervousness either and kept creaming the Bangladesh bowlers. The third and final session was marred with bad light. Only 15 overs were possible in the session in which the Lankans scored 70 runs. Karunaratne ended the day, scoring 234 runs off 419 balls with the help of 25 fours.
De Silva, on the other hand, stayed unbeaten on 154 off 278 with 20 fours. As far as the Tigers’ bowling was concerned, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam bowled a combined tally of 91 overs out of 149 but managed only one wicket, which came on the third day. Taskin Ahmed was the most impressive among the pacers. Skipper Mominul Haque and Saif Hassan also rolled their arms over.
Here’s how the netizens reacted to the day’s play:
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