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Coming off a thumping win in Sylhet, Dhananjaya de Silva elected to bat first after winning the toss. Sri Lanka got off to the perfect start, with the openers seeing off the new ball and adding 96 for the first wicket.

Despite losing Nishan Madushka to a run out on 57, Sri Lanka kept marching forward on the back of solid contributions from Dimuth Karunaratne (86) and Kusal Mendis (93).

Though both the batters missed out on their respective hundreds, they helped Sri Lanka to a strong position at the end of day one.

Speaking to the reporters at the end of the day’s play, Karunaratne was happy with his team’s performance, stating that a 300-plus total worked in their favour. He added that this wasn’t a flat wicket and would assist the bowlers in the later stages.

“It’s not easy to bat here. There’s some movement for the fast bowlers,” Karunaratne said. “It’s tough for the first few overs, and then we have to hang on and play defensive. We know that once the ball gets softer, (we can) get some runs.

“The spinners bowled well, but there wasn’t much on offer for the spinners. Later it will be a good wicket for the bowlers as well.”

The left-handed opener also praised the upcoming crop of Bangladesh seamers, including the young Hasan Mahmud who finished the day at 2/64. Karunaratne was one of the batters dismissed by Mahmud.

“There are some good fast bowlers coming up. These are good signs for the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Hasan (Mahmud) has bowled really well, in good areas and he was really consistent.

“He troubled the openers, but we knew when the ball softened, runs would flow.”

Sri Lanka lead the two-Test series, which is a part of the ICC World Test Championship, 1-0 after beating the hosts by 328 runs in Sylhet.