Bangladesh completed with a lead of 187 at the end of the fourth day of play in Galle, with highlights including Kamindu Mendis’s 87, Nayeem Hasan’s five-wicket haul, and fifties from Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto. Early in the day, Sri Lanka was hit hard, but Kamindu Mendis made sure they were within 10 runs of Bangladesh’s 495 total, as Nayeem delivered 5-121 numbers. After that, Bangladesh reached 177/3 at Stumps thanks to strong knocks from Shadman and Shanto in their second innings.
Due to early morning losses to Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka had a rough start to the day at 368/4. As Hasan Mahmud caught Kusal Mendis down the leg-side, De Silva led a Nayeem Hasan to the ‘keeper’s gloves. After surpassing fifty, Kamindu Mendis and Milan Rathnayake formed a strong partnership that enabled Sri Lanka to get closer to Bangladesh’s total. They carried Sri Lanka to 465/6 at lunchtime as the pair dealt in frequent boundaries and Mendis hit a six off a short ball from Nahid Rana.
Early in the second session, Bangladesh responded when Milan Rathnayake inside-edged a Mahmud delivery onto the stumps while trying a pull to leave for 39, ending the 84-run partnership for seven wickets. Soon after, Kamindu Mendis was caught behind by Nayeem, who bowled Tharindu Ratnayake in the same over. Asitha Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya each hit a couple of boundaries, but Nayeem, who took his fourth wicket in Test cricket, bowled the latter, causing Sri Lanka to lose four wickets for 20 runs after lunch and give up a 10-run advantage.
The umpire’s judgement allowed Anamul Haque to survive a leg-before shout off Jayasuriya, giving the Bangladesh openers a cautious start in their second innings.
Shadman started out by hitting two fours off Fernando, the first of which was an edge that missed second slip. However, Anamul edged to the ‘keeper off Jayasuriya, ending the first stand. Bangladesh reached 65/2 at teatime after Mominul Haque hit a six off Tharindu, but the spinner had the last laugh a few overs later when the batter got a top edge while trying a paddle sweep.
Taking Bangladesh past 100, Shanto and Shadman started the third session with a couple boundaries, with the latter surpassing fifty. Shadman ended a crucial half-century stand by hitting Fernando with a beautiful straight drive for a four. Shanto even used the reverse sweep to hit a boundary off De Silva as the batters’ confidence increased. After Shadman got caught in front of Milan and took a review with him, the two added 68 goals before Milan stopped the collaboration. Mushfiqur Rahim and Shanto had a fruitful stand, with the former surpassing fifty in the afternoon.
India
