CHATTOGRAM, Bangladesh: Sri Lanka was closing in on victory and another test series sweep in Bangladesh after reducing the host to 268-7 in an improbable chase of a 511-run target on Tuesday.
Pacer Lahiru Kumara, left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuirya and occasional bowler Kamindu Mendis took two wickets each to put Bangladesh in survival mode on day four of the second and last test.
Bangladesh barely forced a fifth day. At stumps, Mehidy Hasan was on 44 from 49 balls after hitting seven fours and Taijul Islam on 10.
They were 243 runs from an unlikely victory, but 511 was never on. Nobody could resist Sri Lanka’s bowling.
Mominul Haque’s second fifty in the series helped Bangladesh go past 200 for the first time in five test innings dating to December. But he was dismissed on 50 off 56 after hitting eight fours and one six.
“Bangladesh played well today … they put the pressure back on the bowlers,” Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood said.
“We bowled well in patches. There were periods when we could have bowled better. I don’t think we quite had the consistency in this innings as we showed in the first innings with the ball. But, thankfully, our hard work has put us in a strong position, going into tomorrow.”
Sri Lanka started the day batting and allowed Angelo Mathews to score his first half-century of the series and 41st in his career. Sri Lanka resumed its second innings on 102-6 and declared at 157-7 shortly after Mathews was bowled by Shakib Al Hasan for 56 after hitting five boundaries.
Prabath Jayasuriya was unbeaten on 28.
Sri Lanka posted 531 in its first innings, the highest total without any batsman scoring a century, and took a 353-run lead without enforcing the follow-on. Sri Lanka has never lost a test in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh batted eight overs without loss to lunch, then lost its first wicket in the second over after the interval.
Jayasuriya broke up the openers when he dismissed Mahmudul Hasan on 24.
Then pacer Vishwa Fernando got Zakir Hasan caught on 19 by Dhananjaya de Silva at first slip.
Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto reached double digits for the first time in the series but appeared uncomfortable throughout his stay before he was bowled on 20 by Kumara.
Mominul counterattacked and raised his 18th test fifty off 55 balls, pulling pacer Asitha Fernando down to fine leg for a single. He was out off the next delivery, top-edging a sweep of Jayasuriya straight to square leg.
“No excuse, as a batting unit, we played extremely bad cricket,” Mominul said. “We couldn’t bat according to our potential. We have to take the responsibility. Today, most of the batters, including me, got out after getting set. The wicket was good to bat on.”
Shakib and Liton Das came together at 132-4 and became Bangladesh’s last great hopes. They fought for more than 16 overs, bridging tea, and combined for 61 runs, but were out in the space of four runs.
Shakib, playing his first test in a year, had 36 off 53 balls when he was baffled by Kamindu’s huge turn and gave the bowler his first wicket in test cricket.
Kamindu also took out Shahadat Hossain for 15 before Liton was undone by a short delivery from Kumara and edged behind on 38.
