Dhaka — The Kandy Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Saturday ended as a high-scoring draw with one and half an hour left to play as rain forced an early close.
Tamim Iqbal and captain Mominul Haque remained unbeaten on 74 and 23. Bangladesh were batting at 100 for two in their second innings of the Test in which 1289 runs were scored for 17 wickets.
After the tea break of the final day, the Tigers were unable to take the field. The umpires waited for more than an hour to resume the game, but the rain wiped out the final session of the day.
It was the first draw for Bangladesh in the World Test Championship. They have now secured 30 points for their World Test Championship campaign.
Bangladesh lost Saif Hassan (1) and Najmul Hossain Shanto (0) at the start of their second innings. But Tamim Iqbal struck his second fifty of the match off 56 balls. He completed his fifty when the team total was 52 and ended the game on 74 off 98 balls with ten fours and three sixes.
Sri Lanka declared on 648 for eight at the lunch break of the final day, securing a lead of 107 runs.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva scored 244 and 166. It was the career-best innings for Karunaratne and second-best for Dhananjaya.
Taskin Ahmed was the best bowler for Bangladesh in the high-scoring Test, taking three wickets, while Taijul Islam bagged two wickets.
In the first innings of the match, Bangladesh declared on 541 for seven with Najmul (163) and Mominul (127). It was the maiden ton for Najmul in Tests while Mominul scored his first in an away Test.
Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das scored a fifty each for the visitors in the first innings.
Vishwa Fernando was the most successful bowler for the hosts taking four wickets for 96 runs.
Karunarate was awarded the player of the match award for his outstanding 244.
After five days of Test, dominated almost entirely by the bat, Mominul applauded the best performers of his team saying: “I think it was a team performance. Everyone contributed, especially Shanto. Also, the bowlers tried hard, especially Taskin, Miraz and Taijul.”
Sri Lankan captain Karutarate said, “We thought the wicket would have good pace and bounce, but in these conditions, with the heat, it was a bit flat. In the final Test, which starts on Thursday, we want a sporting wicket that will offer some help to the bowlers as well.”UNB
