Sri Lanka moved closer to winning the second and final Test after dominating the fourth day against Bangladesh at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy yesterday.
The visitors were struggling at 177 for five in their second innings when bad light ended play early while chasing a massive victory target of 437 runs.
Bangladesh will resume today’s fifth and final day still needing 260 runs to win the match from 98 overs while Sri Lanka require five wickets to clinch the two-Test series 1-0.
The Sri Lankan spinners once again did the damage and they were all over the Bangladesh top order with Ramesh Mendis and debutant Praveen Jayawickrama sharing all five wickets.
Mendis, who opened the bowling, was the most successful with three for 86 while Jayawickrama added two more wickets to his tally following his record breaking heroics in the first innings.
Bangladesh had almost five sessions and 150-odd overs to survive. But on a pitch that is turning square, they seem to have very little chances.
Opener Tamim Iqbal and Najmul Shanto got beauties from the two spinners while Saif Hassan threw his wicket away.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Skipper Mominul Haque were the last hope and they too perished early in the final session.
Wicket-keeper batsman Liton Das and Mehidy Hasan survived a couple of decisions thanks to the Decision Review System (DRS).
Earlier, Sri Lanka decided to have a crack at Bangladesh after setting up 437 as a target. Taijul Islam picked up a five-wicket haul but that didn't mitigate the damage much. Dimuth Karunaratne led the charge and helped Sri Lanka to extend the lead past the 400-run mark despite losing Angelo Mathews early.
Dhananjaya de Silva walked in and along with Karunaratne, peeled off some quick runs as the first hour of play saw 80 runs being scored in the 18 overs that were bowled during that time.
The Bangladesh bowlers lacked the bite and weren't able to stop the free flow of runs. Karunaratne fell in the process of looking for quick runs as he was nipped out for 66 off only 78 balls by Saif Hassan.
Dhananjaya lost his wicket after a while in search of quick runs and Pathum Nissanka also departed as Sri Lanka continued their process of acceleration.
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