Sri Lankan seamers cut through the Bangladesh top order in the second innings after centuries from Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal gave the visitors a commanding lead in the second Test in Dhaka on Thursday.
Bangladesh were a dangerous 34-4 at stumps on the fourth day and still need another 107 runs to ward off an innings defeat.
The visitors were all out for 506 runs in the day’s final session, with Shakib Al Hasan claiming his 19th Test five-for and pacer Ebadot Hossain finish-ing 4-148.
The hosts fell into trouble in the sixth over as Asitha Fernando delivered opener Tamim Iqbal his second duck of the Test, returning after a catch in second slip from Kusal Mendis.
Najmul Hossain (two), Mominul Haque (0) and Mahmudul Hasan (15) followed him in quick suc-cession as Fernando and Kasun Rajitha ripped through the top order to finish with 2-12 and 1-12 respectively.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das, who shared 272 in the first innings and slammed a century each, finished the day on 14 and one.
It followed a day of struggles with the ball, with Bangladesh unable to make any breakthrough until after tea.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib blamed “fear of failure” for their collapse. “We tend to think if we make mistakes the result will go against us,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s Oshada Fernando hailed Mathews and Chandimal for taking the side to a commanding position.
“It was a very even game when Chandimal came into the crease, but that partnership helped us domi-nate and put us in a very strong situation,” he said .—AFP
