Bangladesh hanging on by a thread

Cricket365
March 10, 2017

Bangladesh are staring down the barrel of a big defeat in Galle but were able to negotiate the fifteen overs they had to bat before stumps on day four without suffering the loss of a wicket.

Sri Lanka began their second innings on the fourth morning looking to pile on the runs quickly with the aim of declaring with enough time left to secure the win.

The Islander's fan's will have been pulling their hair out though as their team seemed unwilling to declare despite pushing well past a lead of 400.

To put this into context the highest successful run chase at Galle is 99 while the biggest fourth innings score regardless of result at the picturesque ground is 300.

Upul Tharanga scored his third career Test century and remarkably his first ever ton on home soil having made his debut over a decade ago as he notched 115 at a decent strike-rate of 67.25.

Dimuth Karunaratne (32 off 73 balls) and Kusal Mendis (19 off 49 balls) may have nodded off during the team meeting with their lack of intent adding to the frustration of the home fans well aware that the weather may yet cost Sri Lanka the win.

Dinesh Chandimal (50 not out) broke his long streak without a half century but the relief he will feel may be tempered by the feeling that the decision to bat on so that he could go to the milestone may come back to haunt Sri Lanka.

Niroshan Dickwella (15 off 20 balls) and Dilruwan Perera (33 off 40 balls) injected some much needed impetus into the Sri Lankan effort with Perera's dismissal prompting the declaration.

Mehedi Hasan (2 for 77) was the pick of the Tiger's bowlers and continues to put in impressive performances that make it easy to forget that he is still a teenager.

Bangladesh responded by moving to 67 without loss by the close with Soumya Sarkar clearly in the mood to go for the win as he hit 53 off 47 balls while his partner Tamim Iqbal has his feet firmly planted on the ground and has made just 13 off 44 balls.

Much the same as on day three dark clouds rolled in just after tea and put an end to the day's play giving the tourists hope of salvaging a draw while effectively ruling out a bid for victory.

The visitors need another 390 runs to win but will more than likely simply look to bat out the day which could be cut short by weather yet again.