SYLHET
\nDimuth Karun\u00adaratne scored a patient half-century to guide Sri Lanka to 119-5 in the second innings Saturday, building a 211-run lead against Bangladesh at stumps on the second day of the first Test.
\nBangladesh finished the first innings 92 runs behind in Sylhet but made some early strikes to keep the match alive.
\nKarunaratne held firm to score 52 off 101 balls before his dismissal off Shoriful Islam in the day\u2019s final session.
\nSkipper Dhananjaya de Silva, who scored 102 runs in the first innings, was batting on 23 alongside Vishwa Fernando on two.
\nDebutant Nahid Rana dismissed Nishan Madushka (10) and Kusal Mendis (three).
\nSpinners Tajiul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz removed Angelo Mathews (22) and Dinesh Chandimal (0) respectively to give Bangladesh some hope, with the tourists teetering on 64-4 before Karunaratne\u2019s rally.
\nVishwa claimed four wickets in Bangladesh\u2019s first innings of 188 while Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha each took three.
\n\u201cFast bowlers did so well, they kept bowling right outside off throughout the day, they got lot of edges,\u201d Sri Lankan bowling coach Darushena Gamage told reporters.
\nGamage added that the wicket had a\u201d lot of grass layers and uneven bounce\u201d.
\nNightwatchman Taijul Islam top-scored with a career-best 47 for the hosts, who resumed on 32-3.
\nKumara struck with his first ball of the innings when he forced overnight batsman Mahmudul Hasan (12) to edge to de Silva at second slip.
\nShahadat Hossain played a few attacking shots before he fell to Kumara in the same manner for 18. Taijul and Liton Das added 41 runs for the sixth wicket before Kumara struck again.
\nA late swinger knocked back Liton\u2019s middle stump, sending him to the pavilion for 25 after a brief spell at the crease punctuated by four boundaries.
\nTaijul was out off Rajitha after nicking the ball behind the stumps to wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis.
\nRajitha also removed the last recognised batsman Mehidy Hasan for 11 but Khaled Ahmed and Shoriful Islam managed a 40-run partnership to close out the innings.
\n\u201cWe are obviously disappointed not to have batted for more than 51 overs,\u201d Bangladesh batting coach David Hemp told reporters. \u201cIt is a little bit frustrating but it is what it is… If we can get early wickets tomorrow morning, we could be looking at a 250 chase.\u201d
\nSri Lanka made 280 runs in their first innings on the first day thanks to centuries from de Silva and Kamindu Mendis, who both scored 102.
\nSri Lanka have never lost a Test series to Bangladesh.
\nThe second and final match of the series will be played in Chit\u00adtagong from March 30.<\/p>\n
SCOREBOARD
\nSRI LANKA (1st Innings) 280 (D. de Silva 102, K. Mendis 102; K. Ahmed 3-72, N. Rana 3-87)
\nBANGLADESH (1st Innings, overnight 32-3):
\nMahmudul Hasan c de Silva b Kumara 12
\nZakir Hasan lbw b Fernando 9
\nNajmul Hossain lbw b Fernando 5
\nMominul Haque c Kamindu b Rajitha 5
\nTaijul Islam c Mendis b Rajitha 47
\nShahadat Hossain c de Silva b Kumara 18
\nLiton Das b Kumara 25
\nMehidy Hasan c Madushka b Rajitha 11
\nShoriful Islam c&b Fernando 15
\nKhaled Ahmed c Mendis b Fernando 22
\nNahid Rana not out 0
\nEXTRAS (B-9, LB-7, NB-2, W-1) 19
\nTOTAL (all out; 51.3 overs) 188
\nFALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Zakir), 2-17 (Najmul), 3-31 (Mominul), 4-53 (Mahmudul), 5-83 (Shahadat), 6-124 (Liton), 7-140 (Taijul), 8-147 (Mehidy), 9-187 (Shoriful)
\nBOWLING: Fernando 15.3-2-48-4 (1nb, 1w), Rajitha 16-3-56-3 (1nb), Kumara 12-1-31-3, Jayasuriya 7-1-33-0, de Silva 1-0-4-0
\nSRI LANKA (2nd Innings):
\nN. Madushka c Liton b Rana 10
\nD. Karunaratne c Rana b Shoriful 52
\nK. Mendis c Liton b Rana 3
\nA. Matthews c Liton b Taijul 22
\nD. Chandimal lbw b Mehidy 0
\nD. de Silva not out 23
\nV. Fernando not out 2
\nEXTRAS (B-4, LB-2, NB-1) 7
\nTOTAL (for five wickets, 36 overs) 119
\nSTILL TO BAT: K. Mendis, P. Jayasuriya, K. Rajitha, L. Kumara
\nFALL OF WICKETS: 1-19 (Madushka), 2-32 (Kusal), 3-60 (Mathews), 4-64 (Chandimal), 5-113 (Karunaratne)
\nBOWLING: Shoriful 11-1-27-1, Khaled 7-1-27-0, Rana 10-0-42-2 (1nb), Taijul 6-2-12-1, Mehidy 2-1-5-1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYLHET Dimuth Karun\u00adaratne scored a patient half-century to guide Sri Lanka to 119-5 in the second innings Saturday, building a 211-run lead against Bangladesh at stumps on the second day of the first Test. Bangladesh finished the first innings 92 runs behind in Sylhet but made some early strikes to keep the match alive. Karunaratne […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-396013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n