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Bangladesh 318 for 3 (Tamim 133 retired hurt, Mahmudul 58, Litton 54*, Mushfiqur 53* Rajitha 2-17) trail Sri Lanka 397 (Mathews 199, Chandimal 66, Nayeem 6-105, Shakib 3-60) by 321 runs
Chattogram: Top knocks from Tamim Iqbal (133*), Liton Das (54*) and Mushfiqur Rahim (53*) helped Bangladesh end Day 3 on 318/3, still trailing Sri Lanka by 79 runs.
After losing three crucial wickets in the afternoon session, Rahim and Liton batted through the final session on Day 3 helping Bangladesh rebuild their innings. On a wicket where Bangladeshi spinners scalped most of the wickets in the first innings, the Sri Lankan spinners struggled to find assistance as they remained wicketless.
Trailing by 327 runs, Bangladesh started the third day with both their openers in excellent touch. The morning session turned out to be an ideal one for the hosts, as the openers were able to convert their starts into good scores, and extended their opening partnership to 159 runs.
Tamim Iqbal was the aggressor in the partnership, while Mahmudul Hasan Joy dropped anchor at the other end. Runs came thick and fast for Bangladesh in the first hour as the batters maintained a run-rate of around four an over.
Tamim soon brought up his 32nd Test half-century and continued to dominate the Sri Lankan bowlers. Mahmudul too followed suit and completed his second Test fifty. The Lankans were poor in the field, failing to grab the chances that came their way. Both openers received reprieves as Bangladesh went to Lunch at 157/0.
Pacer Vishwa Fernando following his blow on his helmet off Shoriful Islam’s short delivery in the afternoon session of Day 2, continued to bowl in the morning session of Day 3 but was later ruled out of the Test and medium-pacer Kasun Rajitha came in as a concussion substitute for him.
Post tea-break, it was all about rebuilding the innings for Bangladesh. After batting through the opening and the afternoon sessions, Tamim struggled because of the heat and had to retire hurt.
With three wickets down and their top batter in the pavilion, the job of stabilising the Bangladesh innings fell on Mushfiqur and Liton Das. They batted sensibly and avoided unnecessary risks. The Sri Lankan spinners bowled the majority of the overs in the final session but were unable to find a breakthrough.
Liton, who had scored most of his runs in the square region, brought up his fifty with a boundary towards mid-wicket, while Mushfiqur also completed his half-century with a single on the on-side.
Bangladesh finally finished their day on 318/3, trailing by 79 runs with both Liton (54*) and Musfiqur (53*) firm at the crease.
