Karunaratne criticises pitch after high-scoring draw

Cricket365
February 4, 2018

Sri Lanka opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne has criticised the pitch in Chittagong after the first Test against Bangladesh ended in a high-scoring draw on Sunday.

More than 1 533 runs were scored over the five days while only 24 wickets were taken as the teams now go into a winner takes all final Test in Mirpur starting on Thursday.

Bangladesh were 513 all out in the first innings after winning the toss but Sri Lanka replied with a mammoth 713/9 declared with three players hitting centuries.

The Tigers then batted out the final day to be 307/5 as Mominul Haque became the first player from his country to register two centuries in the same Test.

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The lef-handed Karunaratne, who was out for a duck in Sri Lanka’s innings, hopes the surface for the second Test will offer more to the bowlers.

Karunaratne said after the game: “Bangladesh put up 500-plus on the board but our batters showed a lot of character to reply with 700-plus. The boys did well to put them under pressure on this wicket by getting a big score.

“I don’t think this is a good wicket for Test cricket because already 1,500 runs have been scored. I think there needs to be something for the bowlers as well. I am hopeful we get a 50-50 wicket in the next Test.

“Normally, in the subcontinent, there is some turn in the fourth and fifth day. Here there wasn’t much turn or bounce. Batsmen could play big shots off the back foot as well.

“Once a batsman got set, he was able to get a really big one on this wicket. There were a lot of big runs in the scorecard.”