Walton Test Series 
Bangladesh VS Sri Lanka 
2nd Test 
Brief Scorecard 
Sri Lanka 463/7 (Lahiru Thirimanne 140, Dimuth Karunaratne 118, Oshada Fernando 81, Niroshan Dickwala 64* Pithum Nishanka 30, Ramesh Mendis 22, Taskin Ahmed 4/ 127) 
Sri Lanka 2nd Innings 194/9 Declared (Dimuth Karunaratne 66, Dhananjaya de Silva 41, Taijul Islam 5/72. Mehdi Miraj 2/66) 
Bangladesh 251 All Out (Tamim Iqbal 92, Mominul Haq 49, Mushfiqur Rahim 40, Praveen Jayawickrama 6/92)
Bangladesh 2nd Innings 227 All Out (Mushfiqur Rahim 40, Mehedy Meraj 39, Saif Hasan 34, Mominul Haq 32, Nazmul Hossain Shanto 26, Tamim Iqbal 24, Ramesh Mendis 4/103, Praveen Jayawickrama 5/86) 
Sri Lanka Won the Test by 209 runs
Sri Lanka Won The Series 1-0 
Player Of The Match: Praveen Jayawickrama 
Player Of The Series: Dimuth Karunaratne. 

Dominating throughout Sri Lanka won the second match of the two matches test series against Bangladesh by 209 runs. Winning this test home team won the test series 1-0. 

Sri Lanka was lucky winning the toss and making first use of the wicket. Over the first two days the wicket hardly assisted any bowler. Yet Taskin led Bangladesh attack in the first sessions of day one and two took stern tests of Sri Lanka batting. The batsmen applied and doing grinding and grafting overcame the situation. Sri Lanka declared their first innings scoring 463/7 in the first session of day three. Bangladesh was doing all right till tea scoring 213/4. Wicket was playing all right. Suddenly after tea wicket started turning prodigiously and bouncing. Bangladesh collapsed in no time from 214/4 to 251 all out. 

The wicket changed from a dead surface to spinners paradise. Sri Lanka in second innings in the quest for quick runs also lost wickets in heap. However, the huge advantage in the first innings kept them ahead. Sri Lanka declared their second innings again scoring 194/9 setting a target of 437 for Bangladesh.

The fate of the match was written on the wall. Bangladesh neither had the quality or temperament to chase the target on a wearing wicket. Top order showed poor character. Off course wicket also deteriorated a great deal. Bangladesh could score 227 all out and lost the match by 209 runs. 

The tests were played on the same venue at the picturesque Pallekele Stadium Kandy, Sri Lanka. The first test played on a dead unresponsive surface ended in high scoring tame draw. The wicket was unresponsive that it was not possible to judge the quality or strength of teams or the players. But the wicket for the second test changed character after tea of day three. The difference technique, temperament, application and quality of the two teams became clear from the match. As soon as the wicket started gripping and turning the debutant left arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama (6/92& 5/86) and rookie Ramesh Mendis (2/86&4/103) crashed Bangladesh. Bangladesh batsmen showed poor technique, temperament and application. 

Bangladesh players cannot play against quality pace on bouncy wicket and seaming condition, they cannot play against leg spin on any wicket whether at home and abroad and now it is proved that their batsmen lack skill against quality spinners on turning track. This is a sad commentary for a test team-playing test for 21 years. Hope BCB will do soul searching. 

However, this series had few positives. Taskin was a revelation of the series. Bangladesh earned an honourable draw in the first test. 

BDST: 1448 HRS, May 3, 2021
SMS