Sri Lanka sent Bangladesh on a leather hunt as the home side piled up a formidable 291 for one on the opening day of the second and final Test, which commenced at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy yesterday.
Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne set the pace with his 12th Test century on a flat deck while his opening partner Lahiru Thirimanne continued his outstanding form this season while compiling his third hundred.
The two left handers also added 209 runs for the first wicket in 63.1 overs, which is Sri Lanka’s third highest opening stand after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.
Karunaratne fresh from a double century in the opening Test at this same venue, was in no mood to throw it away and that rubbed on to his partner Thirimanne as well.
He also praised the batting of his opening partner Thirimanne with whom he has had several good opening partnerships during their young days.
“We’ve both played together for a long time, Under-16, Under-17 and we have a very good understanding,” he said.
“Thirimanne has been very consistent through this year, he was getting 60s, 70s, I really wanted him to get a big one today.”
“Nothing much for the bowlers but there might be something for the spinners later on. We need to score as many as we can, 600 is the target so we can give the bowlers something to bowl at,” Karunaratne added.
However, Bangladesh did manage to create some chance as Karunaratne edged one off Taskin Ahmed only to get a reprieve at slip as Nazmul Shanto dropped him when he was on 28.
Bangladesh kept ringing the changes till drinks and even took an optimistic review against Karunaratne for a caught behind call. There was broad daylight between bat and ball and Bangladesh ended up losing a review.
Thirimanne carried his bat throughout the day and remained unbeaten on 131 from 253 deliveries and included 14 boundaries.
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