Creating a match thread here.
So SL won the toss and chose to bat.
2 changes for them, Mendis and Pradeep are in.
BD - Kayes, Mahmudullah, and Razzak are in. Weird because they went with 3 pacers and now they play just one, I don't know what exactly are they thinking about. But either way, good decision to get rid of Rubel - Robiul should've been stuck with though. Also good to see Mahmudullah back. Kayes used to be garbage when I saw him last. Lets see how he does now.
Razzak, I have no idea what to make of him playing yet either.
Shakib Al Hasan to Sangakkara, 2 runs, short-of-a-length again. Looks like Bangladesh want the batsmen to play cross-batted strokes. Sanga obliges this time, cutting it in front of square.ย
Sri Lanka were in the driver's seat for large parts of the day, but a few too many wickets in the last session would not please them too much. Bangladesh' spinners, for all their success late in the day, were often too short and pushed quite a few balls down the pads too. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene took full toll of several of them to record a nearly-flawless 150+stand. Sanga is still out there having raised his 34th Test ton and looked good to convert it into a double.
320/5 with Sanga on is result. I would like to see how far this goes. Chandimal and Mathews threw it away.
Things looking up for SL though, IDK how BD would recover, but it's not hopeless. They've scored high scores last year. Difference being, the pitch is slow and low, and requires patience and getting settled in, which IDK if they'd be able to do.
One slightly good thing though, with Mahmudullah in, I think the batting depth has increased - which is aย good thing.
I for the life of me don't know why they'd drop Shamsur Rahman after 1 test. It's really ludicrous. Although he did grass a straightforward chance to be fair.