Hasan impresses on debut but Sri Lanka pile on runs against Bangladesh
Hasan Mahmud, known mostly for his white-ball exploits for Bangladesh, was impressive in his first outing in whites. The seamer asked questions frequently and finished the day with two for 64.
Despite falling tantalisingly short of hundreds, Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne helped Sri Lanka to a strong position in the second Test against Bangladesh at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
The tourists went into stumps on day one at 314-4. Dinesh Chandimal was unbeaten on 34 and he was accompanied by captain Dhananjaya de Silva who was batting on 15.
Bangladesh will rue their missed opportunities in the field as at least four chances went abegging, giving the visitors a golden opportunity to pile on the runs on a decent surface.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Hasan Mahmud, known mostly for his white-ball exploits for Bangladesh, was impressive in his first outing in whites. The seamer asked questions frequently and finished the day with two for 64.
Mendis was under a bit of pressure coming into the match with his returns diminishing in the longer version. But the elegant right-hander put all doubts to rest and scored a fine 93 off 150 balls with the help of 11 fours and a six.
Karunaratne, who generally takes it nice and slow, was quite fluent and scored at a much quicker pace than the others in his 129-ball-86.
After being denied the wickets of both the openers because of some lax fielding, it was Hasan himself who contributed to the dismissals of both Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka in the afternoon session.
Debutant Hasan, in for Nahid Rana, was the pick of the bowlers in the first session too, creating chances. Madushka was dropped on nine by Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Karunaratne was given a life by Shakib Al Hasan on 22 - both off Hasan - and Mehidy Hasan Miraz missed a run-out opportunity.
Hasan affected a run out in the second session to send back Madushka (57) in the second session. Then he came back into the attack just before tea to deny Karunaratne (86) a hundred. It was his first Test wicket.
Shakib, who took the new ball as the first-change bowler, bowled two overs in the first session and four in the second, and did not look threatening. The pitch seemed a bit more helpful to the slow bowlers but Bangladesh spinners were not able to utilise that in the first two-third of the day.
Shakib and Miraz, in the third session, combined to get rid of the dangerous Mendis. Shakib, who bowled better in the evening session, got the ball to grip and Miraz took a brilliant catch at slip.
Bangladesh took the new ball immediately after the 80th over and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto brought Hasan back and the move paid dividends straightaway.
Mathews, who played patiently up until the dismissal, edged the ball to third slip where Miraz managed to hold on to the ball despite juggling it initially. He made 23 off 71.
The hosts bolstered their batting by including Shakib and went with two pacers instead of three. On the other hand, Sri Lanka made a forced change, bringing in Asitha Fernando in place of Kasun Rajitha.
