Lankans move to fourth in Test Championship after epic win
Going into the Test series in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka’s biggest worry was its inexperienced fast bowling unit. After Suranga Lakmal retired and Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara were rested owing to injuries, there was little hope its five-man seam bowling unit would put on match-winning performances.
Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Asitha Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne and Shehan Madushanka have played just 29 games among them. What was on show in Bangladesh, however, was a remarkable performance by Rajitha and Asitha, after their first-up seamer Vishwa was ruled out on day two of the first game.
Nothing could take away from Angelo Mathews, of course, the man of the series for his masterful performances with the bat, or Dinesh Chandimal, who scored over 200 runs in three innings including his first century in four years. But how the seamers rose up to the occasion was simply magnificent.
Rajitha, who replaced Vishwa in the middle of the first Test as the concussion substitute, returned figures of 4/60 in the drawn first game while Asitha picked up 3/72 to share seven of Bangladesh’s batsmen in its only innings at Chattogram. The match ended in a tame draw and Mathews’ sheer grit in piling up 199 was the highlight in a game that saw Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim also raking up tons.
Given how Asitha and Rajitha have performed in Chattogram, Sri Lanka went into the second game with much more confidence but never have imagined such a complete performance to outsmart the host. A 252-run sixth wicket partnership between Rahim and Litton Das took Bangladesh to a first inning total of 365 in Dhaka after they were reduced to 5 for 24.
The pair used the new ball superbly on the first session of play, inflicting heavy damage within the first seven overs, as Bangladesh exposed their inability to negotiate the seam movement. The first five wickets fell so cheaply that an early end to Bangladesh first innings was expected, but lack of support from spinners Praveen Jayawickrema and Ramesh Mendis offered the hosts a chance to fight back. Rajitha picked his maiden five-fer (5/64) in the first innings while Asitha returned figures of 4 for 93.
Mathews continued his fine form, scoring an unbeaten 145, sharing a 199-run stand for the sixth wicket with Chandimal, who hit his 12th Test hundred to help Sri Lanka amass 506—a lead of 141 runs. Dimuth Karunaratne (80), Dhananjaya de Silva (58) and Oshada Fernando (57) contributed with half centuries to give Sri Lanka an outside chance of victory with little more than a day to go.
Asitha and Rajitha then reduced the hosts to 4 for 23 at stumps on day four as Sri Lanka sniffed at a victory to end the series on a high. Asitha removed in-form Tamim Iqbal, who offered a regulation catch to second slip before a brilliant direct hit from Praveen Jayawickrema had Najimul Hossain well short of the non-strikers end.
Skipper Mominul Haque was caught behind off Rajitha before Asitha struck again to remove Mahmudul Hassan Joy to put the hosts firmly on the back foot. Shakib-al-Hasan and Litton Das hit half tons before Asitha breathed fire on a dead pitch to claim his maiden six-fer and put Sri Lanka in need of just 29 runs to win.
Asitha became only the second fast bowler in Sri Lanka’s history to take a ten-wicket haul. The first was Chaminda Vaas, who had two such hauls in 1995 and 2001. They were the most remarkable in the series, sharing 24 wickets in three innings.
“These are not the wickets we played on last time, when the ball was spinning and turning,” Niroshan Dickwella said at the post match press conference after Sri Lanka won by 10-wickets.
“This time it was dead and a flat track, good for batsmen. Our fast bowlers came up with their plans. Their execution was good. In both Tests, there wasn’t much for spinners but the fast bowlers did well. Our batsmen also made the job easier for our bowlers.
“In the first innings, there was something for the seamers – a bit of movement and swing. We took five early wickets but we couldn’t quite take the other five wickets [quickly]. In the second innings, [the bounce] was going up and down. Seam movement was there. We stuck to our basic line and length. We wanted to bowl in the stump line in the second innings.”
Though the seamers and batters were outstanding, the biggest disappointments were the spinners who, combined, picked up just three wickets in the series. Lasith Embuldeniya, Dhananjaya de Silva and Ramesh Mendis had one wicket each while Praveen Jayawickrema was wicketless. The victory has put Sri Lanka in fourth place in the ICC Test Championship table with three wins in six games and their performances against Australia and Pakistan in June and July will define team stature in the global platform.
Sri Lanka had beaten Australia 3-0 when the men from Down Under visited the island six years back, but the challenge will be much harder this time around.