Dhaka: Sri Lanka continued to play with resolve on day 4 in Pallekele against Bangladesh as they added 102 runs in the morning session to stretch their score to 331/3 at Lunch.
Dimuth Karunaratne, who was batting on 85 overnight, started the day with a stylish flick and crawled his way to a gritty hundred. The Sri Lanka captain endured some nervy moments while he was at the brink of scoring his ton. Abu Jayed got the second new ball to swerve in from round the wicket in his first over of the day and rapped the batsman on the pad around the knee-roll.
Bangladesh took the review after the appeal was turned down by umpire Kumar Dharmasena, only for the ball-tracking to suggest the impact to be outside the off-stump. But Karunaratne was unperturbed and completed his 11th Test century.
The southpaw batted more positively after his milestone. Dhananjaya de Silva, at the other end, too settled into his groove. The two batsmen used their feet confidently against the spinners and broke their rhythm as the runs began to flow freely for Sri Lanka. Bangladesh’s hopes of making early inroads were punctured as they looked toothless on a pitch that hasn’t shown any signs of deteriorating.
The hosts still trail by 210 runs and they would want to keep batting for a longer period.
This post was published on April 24, 2021 12:10 pm