Eranga, Lakmal shine as Bangladesh fold cheaply

Sri Lanka seamers bowl out hosts for 232 on day one of first Test.

DHAKA: Seamers Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal shared seven Bangladesh wickets as Sri Lanka dominated the opening day of the first Test in Dhaka on Monday.

Eranga finished with four for 49 and Lakmal claimed three for 66 to help bowl out Bangladesh for 232 after the tourists won the toss and chose to field.

Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (61) and Shakib Al Hasan (55) were the only batsmen to resist the Sri Lankan attack.

Sri Lanka made 60 for no loss in reply by stumps, with Dimuth Karunaratne unbeaten on 28 and Kaushal Silva on 30. They are now 172 runs behind with all 10 wickets in hand.

Eranga said the plan to bounce out Bangladesh worked well.

“There was an obvious plan to use the short ball, otherwise it would have been difficult to take wickets on this pitch,” he said.

The tourists justified skipper Angelo Mathews’ decision to bowl first by grabbing four wickets with just 59 runs on the board.

Shakib and Rahim joined hands at that stage to stitch together a fifth-wicket stand of 86, before the hosts suffered two quick blows to slip to 150 for six.

Rahim then added 53 for the seventh wicket with all-rounder Sohag Gazi before he fell leg-before to Lakmal soon after the tea break.

Gazi boosted the total with 42 off 56 balls that contained six boundaries and a six, but found little support at the other end.

Shakib said he was disappointed at his team’s low score since it was a good wicket to bat on.

“We should have scored 375 runs on this pitch,” he said.

Sri Lanka took the field without Test wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, who flew home early on Friday for family reasons. Dinesh Chandimal donned the gloves in Prasanna’s absence.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2014.

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