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Sri Lanka Survive Taijul Islam’s Spin Scare After Shanto Ton To Draw 1st Test

Aakash Saini

Najmul Hossain Shanto celebrating his century [Source: AP Photos]Najmul Hossain Shanto celebrating his century [Source: AP Photos]

Sri Lanka batted out the final session of Day 5 to hold on to a draw, despite Taijul Islam’s late spin scare for the visiting Bangladesh team at the Galle International Stadium. Earlier in the day, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto scored a fighting century before confirming a sporting declaration. 

Here, we take a look at the entire highlights of Day 5, as it panned out at the Galle International Stadium in Galle on Saturday, June 21.

Najmul Shanto Swells BAN Lead With Record Ton

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto recorded the seventh Test century of his career and his second of the match after resuming his innings at 56* on Day 5. The cricketer top-scored with 125* from 199 balls with nine fours and three sixes to extend Bangladesh’s second innings from 177-3 to 285-6d, thus setting Sri Lanka a daunting target of 296 runs in the remaining final two hours of the day.

For Sri Lanka, debutant Tharindu Rathnayake claimed the wickets of Litton Das and Jaker Ali in quick succession to claim figures of 3-102, while overnight batter Mushfiqur Rahim fell to a runout at 49 by Rathnayake.

SL Recover After Taijul Islam’s Threatening Spell

Sri Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka (24) and Lahiru Udara (9) raced to 32 runs in just the first six overs of the innings before both cricketers were dismissed in the space of three deliveries by Taijul Islam and Nayeem Hasan.

Taijul also cleaned up Dinesh Chandimal, and deceived Sri Lanka’s outbound legend Angelo Mathews as the hosts slipped to 48-4. Kamindu Mendis and captain Dhananjaya de Silva eventually batted out the final 10 overs of play to take Sri Lanka to 72-4, thus ensuring a high-scoring draw in Galle.