After a closely fought T20 and ODI series, much was
expected in the recently concluded test series between Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh. But the visitors claimed the test series 2-0 with some ease.
Bangladesh failed to put up a true fight in the series. Bangladesh had played
their first test match in the year 2000 against India, and it has been now 24
years since then. But the Bangladesh team is yet to make a strong statement in
the Test arena. They have produced some strong individual performances but
failed to do it consistently and perform as a team. Srilanka on the other hand
had put up a spirited display in the t2 test match series. Srilankan pacers
performed exceedingly well and played an important role in their series win.
Along with pacers, Srilankan batsmen also performed well and showed patience
and class in crunch situations.
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| Rajitha Fernando |
First Test, Sylhet
The first test in the series against Srilanka was played at Sylhet. In the first innings, Bangladesh started strongly, when they had Srilanka 57/5 at one stage of the innings. But Dhananjaya Desilva and Kamidu Mendis went on to score centuries, to lift the Srilankan score to 280. Khaled Ahmed and Nahid Rana picked up 3 wickets each for Bangladesh. Now, it was a good performance from the Bangladesh bowlers as they had restricted Srilanka to below 300. It was a good chance for Bangladesh to surge ahead in the match. But the Bangladesh batsmen failed to read the Srilankan pacers and were all out for 188. Taijul Islam (47) and Litton Das were the top scorers of the innings.
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| Mominul Haque |
Vishwa Fernando picked up 4 wickets for Srilanka, while Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara picked up 3 wickets each. So Srilanka had a lead of close to 100 in the first innings and the pitch has given some aid to the pacers. In the second innings, once again Kamidu Mendis (108) and Dhananjaya Desilva (164) scored centuries to take the second innings score to 418. Mehidy Hasan Miraz picked up 4 wickets. But the pitch had more help to the pacers, and they could have performed better. Nahid Rana and Taijjul Islam picked up two wickets each, while Shoriful Islam and Khaled Ahmed picked up 1 wicket apiece. Chasing a target of 511 runs, Bangladesh could only score 182 runs. Only Mominul Haque put up a fight when he scored 87 runs and remained not out. Five Bangladesh batsmen were out for a duck. At the end of day 4 of the match, Srilanka won the match by a huge margin of 328 runs. Kasun Rajith picked 5 wickets, while Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumara scalped 3 and 2 wickets in the second innings. Interestingly 20 Bangladesh wickets were picked by Srilankan pacers.
Dhananjaya DeSilva
Second Test, Chattogram
After the dismal
performance in the first test, the Bangladesh team had a chance to draw the
series. But Srilankan batsmen once again batted beautifully and posted a huge
first-innings score of 531. Kusal Mendis and Kamindu Mendis missed their
centuries by a margin of less than 10 runs. 6 Srilankan batsmen crossed the
half-century mark in the first innings. Shakib Al Hassan picked up 3 wickets.
Once again Bangladesh batsmen failed miserably and could muster just 178 runs.
Only 1 Bangladeshi batsman Zakir Hasan crossed half century mark. Once again
the Srilankan pacers picked 8 off the 10 wickets. Asitha Fernando picked 4
wickets. Bangladesh had conceded a huge first-innings lead of 353 runs.
Srilanka declared their second innings on the score 157/7, with Angelo Mathews
scoring 56. Mahmud Hasan picked up 4 wickets for Bangladesh. Once again
Bangladesh was set a target of 500 excess and writing was on the wall. But this
time Bangladesh batsmen performed reasonably well and went on to score 318
runs. Mominul Haque (50) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (81*) made half-centuries for
Bangladesh. Lahiru Kumara picked 4 Bangladeshi wickets. Kamindu Mendis picked 3
wickets.
Kamindu Mendis
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