COLOMBO: Spinners Dhana-njaya de Silva and Prabath Jayasurya rounded off another dominant day for Sri Lanka on Friday, taking two wickets each to leave them on the brink of a crushing innings victory over Bangladesh in the second Test.
By close of play on the third day at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, the tourists had slumped to 115-6 in their second innings, still 96 runs away from making Sri Lanka bat again.
Bangladesh started their second innings with a daunting deficit of 211 after Kusal Mendis鈥檚 forthright 84 had taken the Sri Lanka first innings to 458 all out earlier in the day.
All seven batters so far in the Bangladesh second innings made it into double figures but only Mushfiqur Rahim made it beyond 20, making 26 before being beaten all ends up by Jayasuriya.
With only four wickets in hand, it will be a tough ask of the Bangladesh lower order to see off the Sri Lanka spinners, who have been gaining plenty of turn, from wrapping up the Test and the two-match series. The first Test ended in a draw.
Sri Lanka batter Kamindu Mendis said that the 鈥渨icket is spinning now from both ends and its not easy for the batters鈥.
鈥淲e will look to wrap this up quickly,鈥 he said after the day鈥檚 play.
Earlier, leading from the front, skipper De Silva dealt twin blows with his off-spin in the evening session on Friday.
He had Mominul Haque (15) caught at first slip before trapping his opposite number Najmul Hossain Shanto (19) leg before.
Left-arm spinner Jayasuriya, under pressure to keep his spot after a lean patch, also responded in style with a probing spell.
He struck with the new ball, removing Shadman Islam (12) caught behind, and then bowled Mushfiqur.
The early part of the day belonged to Kusal Mendis who hammered a rapid 84 off 87 balls, with eight fours and two sixes, when it looked as though the Sri Lanka first innings was faltering.
Replying to Bangladesh鈥檚 first innings of 247, Sri Lanka resumed on a strong overnight platform of 290-2 but lost four wickets in the morning session, three of them to the second new ball.
First to go was overnight century-maker Pathum Nissanka who added 12 before chipping left-arm spinner Taijul Islam to short cover. It was a soft end for the in-form opener whose 158 came after career-best 187 in the first Test in Galle.
But Kusal Mendis dug in his heels steering Sri Lanka past the 450-run mark before running himself out, ninth wicket down, going for an unlikely second run.
Taijul wrapped up the innings four balls later to finish with 5-131, his 17th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Taijul said that bowling with the new ball 鈥渨hen there is nothing much on the wicket鈥 is an 鈥渁dvantage鈥.
鈥淭here was a bit of zip this morning when the second new ball was available,鈥 he said after play.
鈥淚 know that I need ten more wickets to overtake Shakib Al Hasan as the leading wicket taker for Bangladesh in Tests,鈥 Taijul added.
鈥淏ut I am not overly bothered about it. It will come when it comes. What I am concentrating on is to bowl well and help my team do well鈥.
BANGLADESH (1st Innings) 247
SRI LANKA (1st Innings):
P. Nissanka c Anamul b Taijul 158
L. Udara lbw Taijul 40
D. Chandimal c Litton b Nayeem 93
P. Jayasuriya c Mehidy b Nahid 10
D. de Silva lbw Taijul 7
K.D. Mendis b Nayeem 33
K. Mendis run out 84
S. Dinusha b Nayeem 11
T. Rathnayake c Anamul b Taijul 10
V. Fernando not out 2
A. Fernando c Shadman b Taijul 0
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, NB-1, W-1) 10
TOTAL (all out, 116.5 overs) 458
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-88 (Udara), 2-282 (Chandimal), 3-305 (Nissanka), 4-313 (de Silva), 5-335 (Jayasuriya), 6-384 (K.D. Mendis), 7-406 (Dinusha), 8-429 (Rathnayake), 9-458 (K. Mendis)
BOWLING: Ebadot 14-0-55-0, Taijul 42.5-4-131-5, Nahid 20-1-94-1 (1w, 1nb), Mehidy 20-1-75-0, Nayeem 18-4-87-3, Mominul 2-0-8-0
BANGLADESH (2nd Innings):
Shadman Islam c Udara b Jayasuriya 12
Anamul Haque c (sub) b A. Fernando 19
Mominul Haque c K.D. Mendis b de Silva 15
Najmul Hossain lbw de Silva 19
Mushfiqur Rahim b Jayasuriya 26
Liton Das not out 13
Mehidy Hasan lbw Rathnayake 11
TOTAL (for six wickets, 38.4 overs) 115
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-31 (Anamul), 2-31 (Shadman), 3-63 (Mominul), 4-70 (Najmul), 5-100 (Mushfiqur), 6-115 (Mehidy)
STILL TO BAT: Nayeem Hasan, Taijul Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Nahid Rana
BOWLING: A. Fernando 8-1-22-1, V. Fernando 6-3-16-0, Jayasuriya 15-2-47-2, de Silva 4-1-13-2, Dinusha 3-1-7-0, Rathnayake 2.4-0-10-1
Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2025