Mahela Jayawardene once again victimised the Bangladeshi bowlers to show his class as he cracked an unbeaten double century to compound the hosts’ misery in the first Test in Dhaka on Wednesday. His 203 not out, the right-hander’s fifth Test century against Bangladesh, guided Sri Lanka to a mammoth 730-6 and gave them an imposing 498-run first innings lead over the home side’s modest 232.
The Tigers lost Tamim Iqbal early in their reply to reach 35-1 at stumps. A deficit of 463 runs going into the fourth day will make it difficult for them to avoid an innings defeat, let alone save the game.
Bangladesh will now be pleased if they can simply drag the contest into the fifth day; a prospect that looks bleak, especially in light of the manner in which Tamim threw his wicket away in the second innings.
Tamim was unable to learn any lessons from the Sri Lankan batsman, who showed no urgency but maintained a decent pace to score their runs.
Almost all the batsmen who had the chance to bat for Sri Lanka played some kind of innings, as Angelo Mathews made 86 runs before Kithuruwan Vithanage completed his maiden Test century, staying unbeaten on 103 at the time of Sri Lanka’s declaration.
Bangladesh were left to bat just nine overs on the third day, but Tamim gave the impression that he intended to erase the entire deficit in that short period of time as he charged Rangana Herath on his third ball, looking for a six over midwicket.
The ball kept low and Tamim could only manage a leading edge, which turned into a spectacular catch by Dilruwan Perera at cover-point.
His batting was a show of complete disrespect for not just the bowler but also the fans, who cheered the Tigers on all day long despite their bowling misery and fielding incapability.
Sri Lanka showed how one should bat on this even-paced pitch, which had no turn or movement; just some hard bounce that should not have given quality batsmen any trouble.
Jayawardene used the opportunity to surpass Allan Border and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to move up to sixth place on the list of all-time highest scorers in Test cricket.
Jayawardene, who has now 11,236 runs, is behind only record-holder Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara on the list.
The 36-year-old also equalled team-mate and close friend Kumar Sangakkara’s Sri Lankan record of 33 Test centuries.
Jayawardene had just one serious blip in his innings when Sohag Gazi hit him on the pad on 119 and made a loud appeal that, unfortunately for the Tigers, was turned down by the umpire.
If the Decision Review System had been in place Jayawardene would have been out, as the replay favoured Sohag, the only bowler to find some kind of success on the third day for Bangladesh.
The Tigers bowled nearly 80 overs on the day but managed just one wicket, making it a day to forget for them.
Bangladesh have bowled a whole day and gone wicket-less only twice in the past (on February 29, 2008 against South Africa in Chittagong and on May 25 against India in Dhaka), but Sohag prevented the Tigers from adding to the ignominious list when he had Mathews caught by Marshall Ayub at short mid-on.
Mathews may have made a mistake as a batsman, but he was not ready to make the same mistake as a captain that he made at Galle last year in his first match in charge.
In that match, Sri Lanka declared their first innings for 570-4 despite having time and wickets in hand, and Bangladesh went on to overhaul the total and earn their first draw against the Islanders.
Perhaps taking a lesson from the match, Mathews allowed Jayawardene and Vithanage to bat on, and the duo helped Sri Lanka easily surpass West Indies’ 648-9 (dec) for the highest Test total against Bangladesh.
Brief scores
Stumps, Day 3
Sri Lanka 1st innings 730-6 dec in 187.5 overs (M Jayawardene 203 not out, K Silva 139, K Vithanage 103 not out, A Mathews 86; D Karunaratne 53, D Chandimal 40; Sakib 3-159, Gazi 2-130) v Bangladesh 2nd innings 35-1 in 9 overs and 232 in 1st innings.
-With New Age input
