Sarkar-Tamim and bad light frustrate Sri Lanka

Soumya Sarkar scored his second half-century of the match as Bangladesh kept alive its hopes of saving the first of two Tests against Sri Lanka after the fourth day at Galle International Stadium on Friday (March 10).

Set a target of 457 to take a 1-0 lead, Bangladesh reached67 without loss in 15 overs before bad light forced early stumps with the target still 393 runs away.

Sarkar, who made 71 in the first innings, led the charge for Bangladesh with an unbeaten 53 in 47 balls, with six fours and a six, while Tamim Iqbal, his opening partner, was more sedate, reaching 13 when play ended.

The umpires took the players off the field 14 overs early as thick clouds gathered over the ground. Interestingly, play ended immediately after Asela Gunaratne conceded three runs off the first ball he had bowled, which was declared a back-foot no-ball, leaving him with the remarkable figures of 0-0-3-0.

Earlier, Sri Lanka declared its second innings at 274 for 6, just five overs into the final session, after Upul Tharanga had scored his third Test century. Tharanga scored 115 in 171 balls, hitting 11 fours and three sixes, before he was bowled by Mehedi Hasan, the off-spinner.

Wickets fell in a rush after that, with Shakib Al Hasan bowling Gunaratne for a duck and Mehedi sending back Niroshan Dickwella for 15. Dinesh Chandimal rode his luck after being dropped by Sarkar at slip on 12 to stay unbeaten on 50 before the declaration came with the dismissal of Dilruwan Perera, who made 33.

Earlier in the second session, Shakib removed Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka's first-innings hero, for 19 before he holed out to Taskin Ahmed at the square-leg boundary.

Sri Lanka began its second innings cautiously, scoring 87 runs for the loss of Dimuth Karunaratne, who gave a catch to Mahmudullah at square leg off Taskin after making 32. But Sri Lanka accelerated in the second session and notched up 160 runs in 31 overs.

Tharanga, who scored just four runs in the first innings, led the way and brought up his century with a single off Shakib. Shakib and Mehedi each claimed two wickets for Bangladesh, conceding 104 and 77 runs respectively.

Bangladesh was all out for 312 runs in its first innings in reply to Sri Lanka's 494.