Karunaratne’s maiden double ton lights up gloomy Pallekele
Dimuth Karunaratne celebrates after reaching his maiden double ton
Sri Lanka took pride in preparing spin friendly pitches in the past to take advantage of their most potent weapon Muttiah Muralitharan which left arm leggie Rangana Herath continued to some extent. So much so that the Galle International Stadium was dismissed as a dustbowl with the ICC rating the pitch as “poor” during the first Test against Australia back in 2011. Ricky Ponting equated the Galle pitch to the infamous Mumbai surface of 2004 while Michael Clarke said “day one felt like day five” after Australia wrapped up a 125-run victory in the first Test.
A decade later the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy is in danger of gaining notoriety for a different reason. Sri Lanka’s pacers spearheaded by Suranga Lakmal who was in menacing form in the Caribbean was licking his lips with glee after seeing the greenish surface in the central hill capital on the eve of the first Test against Bangladesh. When the tourists decided to take first lease of the wicket, the script seemed to have been written perfectly for Sri Lanka to end their drought of wins in Tests. Alas just as the best laid plans of men and mice go awry, Sri Lanka found to their chagrin that looks can be deceiving. The green top at Pallekele turned out to be the most docile pitch seen in world cricket for a long time. There was no vicious bite or turn to make a dent on the Bangladesh batsmen. Sri Lanka Cricket seems to be living in a fool’s paradise as their gamble to go with pacers misfired badly. What should have been a treacherous surface has turned out to be a nightmare for bowlers with batsmen just needing patience to grind them into submission.
When even two innings have not been completed after four days of cricket, it is a poor advertisement for Test cricket despite batsmen thumping centuries with relative ease. There has not been purchase for the spinners from either side as well with only 10 wickets having fallen so far and over 1,000 runs being scored in 322 overs. The game is dead as a dodo with the final day’s play being only of academic interest.
Sri Lanka lost four matches in their last three Test series against South Africa, England and West Indies. Their drought is likely to continue during the ongoing Bangladesh series. Bangladesh are also unlikely to break their drought against Sri Lanka who have not won a Test match overseas since their victory here in 2017.
Skipper Karunaratne seems to have misread the pitch like the officials in the Sri Lanka team. “Spin used to be our strength but not anymore. Our seamers have done a pretty good job in recent months. We have Suranga Lakmal who bowled so well in the Caribbean and was named player of the series. So we are backing our seamers and see what we can get out of them. The spinners we have are young and raw,” he said before the match.
Karunaratne achieved the distinction of scoring his maiden Test double century during his record-breaking stand with overnight partner Dhananjaya de Silva struck his 7th Test century as they batted the entire day without being separated to make 512 for 3 in reply to Bangladesh’s first innings total of 541 for 7 declared.
The pair have added a mammoth 322 runs, the highest fourth-wicket stand by Sri Lanka against Bangladesh, easily surpassing the highest partnership for any wicket – 258 between Michael Hussey and Shaun Marsh – at the Pallekele International Stadium.
Karunaratne was unbeaten on 234 having stroked 25 fours while Dhananjaya’s 154 not out was spiced with 20 hits to the ropes.
Perhaps the strange behaviour of Pallekele is symptomatic of the times where cricket is played without spectators.
| Injured Kumara to miss rest of the series, Sandakan gets call | |
| Seamer Lahiru Kumara has been ruled out of the current test series due to a hamstring injury he picked up on the third day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh being played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. He will be replaced by Chainaman Lakshan Sandakan.MRI scans have confirmed the presence of the injury. He had bowled 28 overs in the first innings, claiming figures of 1 for 88. Kumar returned to the side after nursing a groin injury which he sustained during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa. |
| Scorecard | |
| Bangladesh 1st innings 541/7 in 173 overs (Tamim Iqbal 90, Najmal Hossain 163, Mominul Haque 127, Mushfiqur Rahim 68, Liton Das 50; Vishwa Fernando 4/96) Sri Lanka first innings (overnight 229 for 3) Dimuth Karunaratne not out 234 Lahiru Thirimanne lbw Mehidy Hasan Miraz 58 Oshada Fernando c Liton Das b Taskin Ahmd 20 Angelo Mathews b Taijul Islam 25 Dhanajaya de Silva not out 154 Extras (b4, lb5, nb3, w9) 21 Total (for 3 wickets, 149 overs, RR 3.43) 512 Yet to bat: Pathum Nissanka, Niroshan Dickwella †, PWH de Silva, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando Fall of wickets: 1-114 (Lahiru Thirimanne, 38.6 ov), 2-157 (Oshada Fernando, 53.3 ov), 3-190 (Angelo Mathews, 62.3 ov) Bowling: Abu Jayed 13-1-58-0, Taskin Ahmed 25-6-91-1, Ebadot Hossain 17-1-82-0, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 52-6-123-1, Taijul Islam 39-9-136-1, Mominul Haque 1-0-8-0, Saif Hassan 2-0-5-0 |