Tigers under the pump to save Test

Cricket365
February 7, 2014

Bangladesh reached stumps on day four of the second Test against Sri Lanka on 12 for none, still 455 runs behind, after the visitors declared on 305 for four thanks to tons from Kumar Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal.

Following his triple century in the first innings, Sangakkara made 424 runs in the game after being dismissed for 105, while the record for the most runs by a batsman was 456 by England's Graham Gooch. This left Sangakkara in third on the list.

Once Chandimal reached his century with a few overs to go in the day, Angelo Mathews, on 43 not out himself, decided to call it a day and declared with a lead of 466. This left the Tigers with eight overs to survive.

The day began with Bangladesh still batting in their first innings, but with eight wickets down. They were still 178 runs behind Sri Lanka's first innings score of 587, and were soon all out thanks to Ajantha Mendis' six-fer.

The morning was a fruitful one in terms of wickets as the Tigers removed both Sri Lanka openers cheaply, with Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne both out to Mahmudullah. Mahela Jayawardene was out soon after lunch, for 11.

This left Sangakkara and Chandimal to add to the already hefty lead, with the former batting at an increasingly high strike rate the closer he got to his century, and was on 90. Chandimal, meanwhile, was on 49 at tea.

As he did in the first innings, when he brought up his 300 with a six, Sangakkara reached his milestone with another 'maximum'. Alas, he fell short of overtaking Gooch's long-standing record, and was two runs shy of Mark Taylor's 426. Still, he and Gooch are now the only players to score a triple and a ton in one Test.

Chandimal and Mathews continued the quick charge, adding 82 runs together at nearly six to the over, making the home bowling figures look rather sloppy. Mathews' 43 came off just 38 balls.

Once they were sent in to bat, Tamim Iqbal and Shamsur Rahman took no risks as the day crept to a close, defending nearly everything and only running the safest of singles. They will need all their focus on day five to force a draw.