By Srian Obeyesekere
Pathum Nissanka went on to insulate himself as Sri Lanka’s Mr. Reliable right upfront with a masterly unbeaten innings of 146 off 238 balls consuming 348 minutes studded with 18 boundaries for his fourth test century in the wake of his 187 in the first test as he put the Bangladesh attack to the sword for the second time in a 194-second wicket bonding off 310 balls together with Dinesh Chandimal who struck a telling 93 off 153 balls and 241 minutes laced with 10 boundaries and a six a194 second wicket bonding as Sri Lanka ended the second day of the second test in a box seat 290 for 2 wickets in 78 overs to lead by 43 runs having bowled out the touring team for 247 with the last two Bangladesh wickets falling for 27 runs resuming on an overnight 220 for 8 with Ebadot Hossain leg before wicket to Asitha Fernando for 8 and Taiju Islam last out caught by Dinesh Chandimal off debutant Sonal Dinusha for a defiant 33 off 60 balls hitting 5 boundaries at the Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds on Thursday.
Chandimal was unfortunate to miss a well-deserved century which would have been his 17th, the right-hander falling with three overs to go when off spinner Nayeem Hasan had him edging to wicket-keeper Litton Das with the score on 282. It brought night watchman Prabath Jayasuriya who played out 13 balls for 5 of the 8 runs scored chancing his arm for a boundary.
After Sonal Dinusha had wrapped up the Bangladesh innings for debut figures of 3 for 22 with the other main routings executed by Asitha Fernando taking 3 for 51 and Vishwa Fernando 2 for 45, Pathum Nissanka set about his second century in style running down the pace-spin Bangladesh attack to the ground posting 88 for the first wicket together with Lahiru Udara off 23.3 overs with the latter making 40 off 65 balls hitting 4 boundaries in a 90-minute stay when he fell leg before wicket to Taijul Islam.
The Lankans making the most of the SSC wicket in contrast to Bangladesh falling apart was due to a great effort by the Lankan bowlers spearheaded upfront by the two quicks Vishwa and Asitha followed by Sonal Disusha’s wicket taking advent driven by a telling action which stumped the Bangladeshi batsmen.
Chief Scores:
Bangladesh 247 (79.3 Overs)
(Shadman Islam 46, Mushfiqur Rahim 35, Litton Das 34, Taijul Islam 33, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 31,
Monimul Haque 21, Sonal Dinusha 3/22, Asitha Fernando 3/51, Vishwa Fernando 2/45, Dhananjaya de Silva 1/15, Tharindu Rathnayake 1/72)
Sri Lanka 290/2 (78 Overs)
(Pathum Nissanka n.o. 146, Dinesh Chandimal 93, Lahiru Udara 40, Prabath Jayasuriya n.o. 5, Nayeem Hasan 1/45, Taijul Islam 1/90)
