Sri Lanka Bangladesh Test Series 
1st Test Played at Pallekele Stadium, Kandy 
Brief Scorecard at Stumps Day Four 
Bangladesh 1st Innings: 541/7 Declared (Nazmul Hossain Shanto 163, Mominul Haq 127, Tamim Iqbal 90, Mushfiqur Rahim 68*, Liton K Das 50, Viswa Fernando 4/96) 
Bangladesh 2nd Innings 100/2 (Tamim Iqbal 74*, Mominul 23*, Suranga Lakmal 2/ 21) 
Srilanka 1st Innings: 648/8 Declared (Dimuth Karunaratne 244, Dhananjaya de Silva 166, Lahiru Thirimanne 58, PWH de Silva 43, Niroshan Dickwala 31, Taskin Ahmed 3/112, Mehedi Miraj 1/161, Taijul Islam 2/163)
Match Drawn 
Player Of The Match: Dimuth Karunaratne.

Pallekele Wicket did not have enough pace or bounce, neither it seemed or swung, even the spinners did not have sharp turn. On such a dead surface tame draw is the logical consequence. Over 15 sessions in 5 days 2.15 innings of 4.0 could be completed, only 17 of 40 wickets fell and 541+648 +100= 1189 runs were scored. It is strange thinking that a home team prepared such a dead wicket against a team not much different in strength. The wicket is comparable only with the wicket of Premadasa of 1997 when Sri Lanka scored the world record innings of 952/6. Such wickets back examples as bad as rank turner wickets turning from day one.

The test was destined for a tame draw when match started on day five a bit early for compensating the time lost due to bat light on day four. Sri Lanka was still batting in their first innings at 5123. Taskin with third new ball again bowled an excellent spell removing two big century scorer Dimuth Ranatunge (244) and Dhananjaya de Silva (166). Sri Lanka in the quest for quick runs lost 5 wickets in a heist. Sri Lanka declared the innings closed at lunch taking 107 runs lead. 

Pushing for a win they struck two early blows as Lakmal removed Saif and Shanto with two great deliveries.  For a moment the apprehension for a Bangladesh melt down appeared. Sri Lanka was handicapped with Kumara not being available for bowling. However, Tamim (74*) continuing in his flamboyant best and Mominul (23*) ensured that there was no more drama. The captains agreed to call it a day with Bangladesh reaching 100/2.

The positives of Bangladesh from the match were Tamim (90 and 74*), Mominul (127 and 23*), Nazmul Hossain Shanto (163), Mushfique (68*) and Liton (50). Taskin remerged as a major wicket-taking bowler with new ball. However, on a dead surface it is not fair evaluating the performances of a bowling unit.

Bangladesh should reassess its option for the second test hopefully on a better wicket on the same ground. Saif should be given a second opportunity as he got out on two of the better balls of the test. The wicket had nothing for Abu Jayed Rahi type bowling. Shoriful should be given an opportunity. He bowls left arm and his pace work. Naeem Hasan would be better than Taijul not bowling at his best. Team may even think about Shubhagato Hom. Bangladesh badly missed the bowling of Shakib. The team also missed the services of Mahmudullah Riad.

The feature of the match was also outstanding batting of Dimuth Karunaratne (244) and Dhanajaya de Silva (166) as well as milestone setting 4th wicket partnership of 322. The home team must also have been surprised why the grass top wicket behaved so strange. They would also love to have a sporting surface for the last test.

Test cricket these days are usually decided within four days . However, Sri Lanka played three drawn tests on a trot .The previous two against West Indies were far more contested. We hope to see keen tussle of ball and bat in test match of two evenly balanced teams. 

BDST: 1207 HRS, APR 26, 2021
SMS