Photo: Collected
Sri Lanka secured a decisive 192-run victory over Bangladesh in the second Test match, with fast bowler Lahiru Kumara taking four wickets for 50 runs.
This win completed a series sweep for Sri Lanka, maintaining their record of never losing a Test match in Bangladesh. Prior to this, Sri Lanka also won the three-match T20 series 2-1 but lost the ODI series by the same margin.
“We’re very satisfied with the (Test) win,” Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva said. There are many areas for us to improve, and I’ve talked about those with the team and the coaches are working towards that. If we can learn day by day and raise our game by 1%, we can make winning a habit.”
Resuming Day 5 at 268-7 and needing 243 runs for an unlikely victory, Bangladesh was bowled out for 318 with Mehidy Hasan Miraz staying unbeaten on 81.
Occasional bowler Kamindu Mendis, who took 3-32, got the breakthrough for the visitors in the fourth over of the day when he dismissed Taijul Islam, caught by Nishan Madushka at gully.
But Mehidy raised his sixth Test 50 off 62 balls, hitting Kamindu for a boundary. He batted aggressively to raise the prospect of his only second century but Hasan Mahmud and Syed Khaled Ahmed failed to give him support.
Both of the batters were dismissed by Kumara, leaving Mehidy 19 runs short of his century. He played 110 balls for his 81, including 14 fours.
“After the team does badly, the players feel bad. They always want to improve. They communicate with each other. We don’t think about Test match fees,” Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said. “We are looking for improvement even when we are doing well. Everyone feels bad when we lose, but we prepare very well. We practice very hard.
“This is a very young team. We don’t have much experience. Every player has the desire to improve. Give it more time, the team will make better decisions.”
Sri Lanka posted 531 in its first innings with six batters getting past half-century marks, making it the highest total without any batters scoring a century.
It then dismissed Bangladesh for 178 runs, and took a 353-run lead but the visitors decided against the follow-on. Despite a batting collapse in the second innings, Sri Lanka was able to leave Bangladesh a record chase of 511 after declaring on 157-7.
“The bowlers did their basics on this wicket, and the batters did their job as well,” Dhananjaya said. “The batters were a bit disappointed about not getting runs in the first Test, but we have experienced players. I was confident they would get runs.”
Messenger/Sumon
