- Kumara & Co create new record
Pacer Lahiru Kumara and spinner Kamindu Mendis shared eight wickets for 82 runs, as Sri Lanka thumped Bangladesh by 192-runs, during the first session of the fifth day Wednesday (3), to sweep the two-Test series at Chattogram.
The visitors had earlier won the first Test by 328-runs at Sylhet, last week and with the series whitewash, maintained its record of not losing a Test on Bangladesh soil.
Kumara, who returned 4/50 and Mendis who took 3/32, helped Sri Lanka to bowl out the hosts for 318, in their second innings, on the final day, after they resumed from an overnight 268/7, chasing 511 to win.
Bangladesh managed only a further 50 runs, before losing their three remaining second innings wickets, despite Mehdy Hasan Miraz compiling an unbeaten 81 off 110 balls and with 14 boundaries.
Miraz did well to farm the strike and made a good fist of the daunting chase facing the home team, by raising his sixth Test fifty.
But, Kumara and Mendis, combined to dislodge the Bangladeshi tail, from the other end, leaving the all-rounder stranded and 19 runs shy of a well deserved ton.
Spinner Prabath Jayasuriya too was among the wickets claiming 2/99, for the tourists and the Lankan fast bowlers accounted for 33 of the 40 Bangladesh wickets to fall, across the two-Test series, which is also a new record.
It was also a no mean feat by the Lankan pacers, to capture that many wickets on Bangladesh’s generally spin-friendly decks.
Previously, the most number of wickets, claimed by Sri Lankan quick bowlers in a Test series, had been 29, they had scalped across two-Tests against England in England, 10 years ago.
When play resumed on day five, Miraz fought hard to remain undefeated, but the Lankans knew if they could open up the other end, they will be home and dry and it just proved to be so.
Overnight Bangladesh batter Taijul Islam, was the first to depart when he fell to a brilliant reflex catch from close in fielder Nishan Madushka off Mendis for 16.
Afterwards, Lahiru Kumara accounted for the two Bangladeshi new-ball bowlers Hasan Mahmud and Khaled Ahmed respectively, as the Lankans wrapped up the one-sided Test and the series.
In fact, Mahmud too perished to another terrific catch from Madushka, as he and the rest of the Lankan fielders backed up their bowlers, leaving the hosts to ruminate another home series loss to their South Asian rivals in the format.
Sri Lanka posted 531 in its first innings with six batters getting past the half-century mark, making it the highest total without any batter getting to three figures.
The tourists then dismissed their hosts for 178 and took a 353-run lead but they decided against enforcing the follow-on.
Despite a batting collapse in the second innings, the Lankans were able to set the ‘Tigers’ a record chase of 511 after declaring on 157-7.
Rising Lankan star Kamindu Mendis was named both the Player of the Match and the Series, for his record-breaking displays across the two Tests with the bat, while victorious skipper Dhananjaya de Silva attributed the series triumph to team work.
“The bowlers did their basics on this wicket and the batters did their job as well,” he said at the post-match presentation.
“The batters were a bit disappointed about not getting runs in the first Test, but we have experienced players. I was confident they will get runs. There wasn’t a lot of spin on offer, so I thought of reverse swing as a way to get wickets. The pacers were really on the spot. We have tours of England and South Africa coming up. I have faith in my fast bowlers.”
His counterpart Najmul Hossain Shanto, however, pointed to the inconsistency of his batters as being their undoing in the series, though he was heartened by the fight back by his players in the final game.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 531 (Kusal 93, Kamindu 92*, Karunaratne 86, Shakib 3-110) & 157/7 dec. (Mathews 56, Mahmud 4-65) beat Bangladesh 178 (Zakir 54, Asitha 4-34) & 318 (Mehidy 81*, Mominul 50, Kumara 4-50, Kamindu 3-32) by 192 runs