Bangladesh dominated the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka as they piled up a formidable 302 for two in their first innings at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy yesterday.
The visitors lost opener Saif Hasan in the second over of the innings after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.
However, Najmul Hossain Shanto joined the experienced Tamim Iqbal as the pair repaired the early damage with a second wicket stand of 144 runs.
Tamim fell 10 runs short of what would’ve been his 10th Test hundred as he edged a widish delivery to the lone first-slip fielder off Vishwa Fernando.
Even then, it was a special moment for Najmul who went on to complete his maiden Test hundred in 235 deliveries inclusive of one six and 12 boundaries.
“I am finally relieved at getting the big Test score I had been working so hard for the last few months,” Najmul told after the match.
“I kept on believing in myself even when I wasn’t getting runs. Today, my focus was simply on taking it a session at a time, without looking at the runs next to my name and to capitalise whenever the ball was in my strong areas.”
“I think batting will be even easier on day two and three but there might be turn on day four and five,” he added.
Najmul has been at the crease since the second over and he has batted with great discipline through almost the entire day.
This pitch, contrary to expectations, hasn’t offered a whole lot of help to the fast bowlers, and Bangladesh have capitalised on the batting-friendly conditions to set themselves a great base for the rest of this Test match.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Skipper Mominul Haque wasn’t far behind as the he notched up his 14th Test fifty as well.
For Sri Lanka, Viswa Fernando was the only successful bowler as he claimed both the wickets.
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