Sri Lanka in control after setting 457
Upul Tharanga struck his first Test century at home, as Sri Lanka set Bangladesh 457 to win the Galle Test
The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle10-Mar-2017Stumps
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:22
Fernando: SL could have declared at 350
A sparkling Soumya Sarkar fifty set Bangladesh’s fourth innings off apace, but the visitors remained 390 runs adrift, on a pitch expected to become prickly on the final day. That they had as many as 457 to chase was partly thanks to Upul Tharanga, who sailed to his first home Test century in the afternoon session, as well as a conservative declaration from Rangana Herath. At the time of declaration, 125 overs remained in the match, but it is highly unlikely so many will be possible – bad light and rain ate up 12 overs at the tail end of day four.Tharanga’s maiden home ton
1 Upul Tharanga scored his maiden Test century at home. He averages 27.66 after 24 innings at home, compared to an away average of 41.28 from as many innings.
4 Instances of an opening stand of 50-plus in both innings of a Test for Bangladesh. Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar put together 118 in the first innings, and their unbroken stand in the second innings has been worth 67 so far. They have not had century opening stands in both innings of a Test yet.
2012 The last time Sri Lanka had a bigger opening partnership in Galle than the 69 by Dimuth Karunaratne and Tharanga. Since 2013, this was only the third 50-plus stand for the home team in 16 innings at the venue.
99 Highest successful run-chase in Galle, by the home team against Pakistan in 2014. Bangladesh need 457 in this match – the second-highest target at the venue. The highest fourth-innings total at Galle is 300.
Having been somewhat watchful in the first session, it was after lunch that Tharanga opened his shoulders. He cracked successive fours off Mustafizur Rahman and then routinely strode down the pitch to meet the spinners. Especially severe was he on errors of length, creaming languid boundaries through midwicket and square leg, though he also used the cut and sweep to good effect. He used up 109 balls to reach his half century; his next 47 runs were studded with five boundaries, and came off 44 deliveries. Tharanga paused briefly on the brink of his century, then immediately began to attack again, launching Shakib Al Hasan over long-on. Two more fours were smoked off Mehedi Hasan next over, before Tharanga was bowled trying to attempt a third – Mehedi tossing the ball bravely up, and beating the batsman in the air.Mehedi had in fact been among Bangladesh’s most impressive bowlers on a difficult day. He claimed two wickets under duress, delivering a good mix of turning balls and straighter ones, with an in-out field in place. Shakib took two wickets as well, but it was Mustafizur Rahman who delivered the most immaculate lines and lengths – in the morning session he had delivered four successive maidens, and he conceded only 24 in his nine overs in the day.Sri Lanka’s declaration did not come until after Dinesh Chandimal got to fifty after tea, but nevertheless, they batted most of the afternoon session like a declaration was imminent. Thanks largely to Tharanga, they had hit 160 runs at 5.16 an over, and happily did they burn four wickets in the pursuit of these quick runs. Sweeps and reverse sweeps against the turn were attempted. Bowlers often had batsmen running down the pitch at them. For the first time there appeared to be substantial purchase off this pitch as well, so the contest between bat and ball was roughly even. If Bangladesh had held chances off Dinesh Chandimal, who was dropped on 11, or Dimuth Karunaratne, who was dropped on seven, they may have been more successful in slowing Sri Lanka’s advance.Upul Tharanga struck his third Test century as Sri Lanka piled on a substantial lead on the fourth day•AFP
Sri Lanka, though, were themselves unsatisfied with a lead of 350 – though no team had ever scored more than 300 at this venue – or even 400. Herath’s thinking, perhaps, was to eliminate the chance of a Bangladesh victory almost entirely, which might allow him to ring the batsman with fielders with little consequence.This is in fact what he did in the 15 overs Bangladesh batted, and perhaps it is what allowed Sarkar to hurtle to 53 off 47 balls by the close of play. He hit six fours and one six – all off the spinners, and all square of the wicket. Herath did not bring the younger, more attacking bowlers on before stumps; Lakshan Sandakan and Lahiru Kumara would be reserved for the big push on the final day.In the morning session, neither opening batsman had seemed fluent, and with both their places in the side under some pressure, had not ventured many attacking strokes. In fact one of the few occasions that Karunaratne attempted to hit out, he supplied Bangladesh an opportunity to get him out: Shakib going on to drop the mis-hit lofted drive at short cover to deny Mehedi a wicket. He was moved to caution by that scare, but did not make much use of the second life, swatting a Taskin Ahmed ball carelessly into the legside, where Mahmudullah ran in off the rope to complete and excellent diving catch. Though Bangladesh also made plenty of fielding mistakes, there would be an even better catch later in the day, when Liton Das lunged to his left to intercept a reverse-paddle from Niroshan Dickwella.More rain is forecast for the fifth afternoon, but to defy Sri Lanka, Bangladesh will have to resist Herath – the bowler with the most fourth-innings five-wicket hauls in cricket, bowling on a favourite strip.