Dhaka – Bangladesh were trailing by 361 runs with eight wickets in hand in the 1st innings after the 2nd day’s play replying to Sri Lanka’s 494/10 in the first Test of the Joy Bangla Cup series at Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka on Wednesday.Opening the innings on the day, the Tigers played 46 overs to collect 133/2 at stumps spurred by the opening stand of 118 in 36 overs between openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar.Soumya remains at the crease till the end of the day firing his 2nd Test half century of 66 off 133 balls, including seven boundaries and one over boundary, while skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (1) was on batting in the 3rd pair to resume the innings on day-3.Tamim fell victim to a peculiar run out for 57 off 112 balls, including six boundaries. Lankan left handed spinner Lakshan Sandakan delivered to Tamim who ran down the pitch aimlessly firing the ball leg side without knowing where the ball was and Niroshan Dickwella knocked the bails off.Mominul Haque (7 off 17b; 1×4) could be careful to play the day’s remaining overs with Soumya in the 2nd pair, but dismally followed Tamim’s path soon at 127/2 in 40.3 overs.Off-spinner Dilruwan Perera delivered a good length ball at the middle stump which turned away towards the off stump to lbw Mominul Haque who took a strategy to play off the back foot. Skipper Mushfiqur came and paired with Soumya to play the day’s remaining 5.3 overs to add six runs more.Earlier, Sri Lanka collected a sizable figure of 494 before being all out on day-2. Resuming the innings with overnight score of 321/4 in 88 overs, the hosts played 41.1 overs more on the day to add 173 runs at the cost of six wickets.Kusal Mendis started the day with his overnight 166 and fell just six runs short of a double century as he was caught by Tamim Iqbal off Mehedi Hasan Miraz bowling to depart from the solid 5th stand of 110 in 20.4 overs where overnight batsman Niroshan Dickwella contributed 63 runs.K Mendis was out at 398/5 in 103.3 overs playing an innings of 194 off 285 balls, including 19 boundaries and four over boundaries.After Mendis, N Dickwella continued with Dilruwan Perera, but offbreak bowler Miraz again came up with his spin to hunt N Dickwella, who was caught by Mahmudullah Riyad at 432/6 in 110 overs, playing an one-day mood innings figuring 75 off 76 ball witnessing six boundaries and one over boundary.Miraz continued his show for four-wicket haul in the innings departing D Perera by lbw at 494/9 in 128.5 overs. D Perera stayed for 51 off 77 balls, including seven boundaries, while skipper Rangana Herath out for 14 runs.Miraz conceded 113 runs for four wickets — opener Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, N Dickwella, D Perera — in 22 overs.Returning to the Test side after a 20-month break, cutter master Mustafizur Rahman sharpened his form grabbing two wickets for 68 runs in the innings while Taskin Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan and Subashis Roy took one wicket each for 77, 100 and 103 runs respectively.Brief Score:Sri Lanka 1st innings: 494/10 in 129.1 overs (overnight 321/4 in 88 overs); Kusal Mendis 194, Asela Gunaratne 85, Niroshan Dickwella 75, Dilruwan Perera 51, Mehedi Hasan Miraz 4/113, Mustafizur Rahman 2/68, Taskin Ahmed 1/77, Shakib Al Hasan 1/100, Subashis Roy 1/103. Bangladesh 1st innings: 133/2 in 46 overs at stumps; Soumya Sarkar batting 66, Tamim Iqbal 57, Mushfiqur Rahim batting 1, Dilruwan Perera 1/32. UNB agency
