Dhananjaya ton, Mendis fifty lead Sri Lanka strong reply

Sri Lanka 187 for 1 (de Silva 104*, Mendis 83*) trail Bangladesh 513 (Mominul 176, Mahmudullah 83*, Lakmal 3-68, Herath 3-150) by 326 runs

Chittagong: Despite losing an early wicket, Sri Lanka had a fruitful final session on Day Two of the first Test against Bangladesh.

At Chittagong on Thursday, after Bangladesh plundered 513, Sri Lanka lost seasoned opener Dimuth Karunaratne for a 9-ball duck.

Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis revived the visitors following the wicket and remained unbeaten at stumps as Sri Lanka reached 187 for 1, trailing Bangladesh by 326 runs.

Mehedi Hasan’s dismissal of Karunaratne was Bangladesh’s only success before tea and that remained the only Sri Lankan wicket that fell on Day Two.

Dhananjaya ’s fearless hammering pierced through Bangladesh bowlers’ confidence. While Mendis had a controlled approach towards the game, de Silva went all guns blazing, hammering 15 fours in his knock.

Bangladesh bowlers fell short of a good game plan.

Skipper Mahmudullah lost both their reviews within 42 overs of the innings. De Silva got to the fourth Test century of his career, facing only 122 deliveries. He scored centuries in successive innings with this.

Earlier, Sri Lanka had a fruitful first session with Rangana Herath striking twice in quick succession. He got rid of a dangerous-looking Mominul Haque (176).

Bangladesh lost three wickets in the first session but were survived by a brilliant 83 not-out from Mahmudullah. He completed 2,000 Test runs during his knock.

Mahmudullah kept losing partners at the other end while batting with the tail but took his side past the threshold of 500.

Herath and Suranga Lakmal were the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets each. Lakshan Sandakan bagged 2 wickets from the innings.