By Srian Obeyesekere
Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva with 102 and 108 and Kamindu Mendis 102 and 164 are the third batsmen from the same country to perform the twin century feat in the same match against Bangladesh in the first Test at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium after Australia’s Chappell brothers Greg and Ian who became the first to do so against New Zealand on March 1, 1974 at the Basin Reserve in Wellington while the second from the same country to the rare feat were Pakistan’s Azhar Ali 109 and 100 not out and Misbah ul-Haq 101 and 101 not out on October 30, 2014.
Duleep Mendis was the first to score twin centuries – 105 and 106 in becoming the 35th batsman in world cricket to achieve the feat versus India at Chidambaram Stadium, Madras in the drawn test.
Four other Sri Lankans have scored twin centuries namely Asanka Gurusinha 119 and 102 versus New Zealand at Seddon Park, Hamilton in becoming the 40th batsman to the feat while Aravinda was the 46th with scores of 146 and 120 versus India at the SSC on August 9, 1997. Tillekeratne Dilshan was the 65th with 162 and 143 versus Bangladesh on January 3, 2009 at the Zohar Ahmed Stadium, Chittagong which was the only game won by Sri Lanka while the rest of the magical feat tests were drawn.
At the time of writing Sri Lanka was on the brink of victory against Bangladesh.
