January 4, 2009
Sri Lanka 384 (Dilshan 162, Kapugedera 96, Warnapura 63, Shakib 4-109) and 13 for 0 lead Bangladesh 208 (Mortaza 63, Mendis 4-71) by 189 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Mashrafe Mortaza guided Bangladesh away from an embarrassing follow-on on the second day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Chittagong. His crucial 63, which came off 89 balls and included eight boundaries and two sixes, came at a time when he was joined by last man Shahdat Hossain, still needing 49 runs to avoid the follow-on.
While Mashrafe undertook the bulk of the scoring , a resolute Shahdat helped Bangladesh save face as they not only went past the follow-on but helped reduce the deficit to 176 runs, which looked improbable earlier.
The difficult situation had been created by the lack of application from the batsmen who threw away their wickets in a hurry. And with Chaminda Vaas, along the spin duo of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan, on song, matters kept getting worse.
Chaminda Vaas had done the damage early on removing both openers - Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes - as the hosts got off on the wrong foot. Mendis, who had missed the first Test, made an impressive return to end as the most successful bowler with 4 for 71, as Muralitharan ended with 3 for 62.
Sri Lanka's opening pair of Malinda Warnapura and Prasanna Jayawardene then safely negotiated the five overs to take the score to 13 for no loss at stumps.
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Ajantha Mendis found Test cricket easy in his first series against India last year, bamboozling their high-quality middle-order, and he was on song in Chittagong against the less formidable Bangladesh. Showing no signs of the ankle injury which kept him out of the first Test, he picked three wickets, including that of Shakib Al Hasan for a golden duck, to leave Bangladesh staring at a huge first-innings deficit at tea.
Chaminda Vaas provide the early breakthroughs with the new ball, running in hard and getting movement off the pitch to trouble the openers. Tamim Iqbal fell in the first over, nicking a Vaas delivery that jagged away. The other opener, Imrul Kayes, survived a while longer but was done in by a Vaas indipper in the ninth over.
Mendis was brought into the attack as early as the tenth over, and though he wasn't getting too much turn it took him only a couple of overs to strike - Raqibul Hasan was trapped by a well-flighted, straight delivery.
Mohammad Ashraful and Junaid Siddique put up some resistance, using contrasting methods to blunt Mendis. Ashraful chose to play late after gauging the turn while Junaid regularly lunged forward to smother the spin. The partnership was broken when Junaid failed to pick a yorker from Dilhara Fernando, making a return to the Test side after more than a year on the sidlelines.
Mendis then had Mehrab Hossain jnr and Shakib lbw off successive balls and Bangladesh were tottering at 90 for 6, with their last recognised batting pair of Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim at the crease. Ashraful was patient against Mendis but had several moments of indiscretion against Muttiah Muralitharan. Three botched reverse-sweeps didn't deter him from attempting the shot again when on 45, and it only resulted in a simple catch for Prasanna Jayawardene.
Mushfiqur remained unbeaten on 16 but the Bangladesh batsmen had undone the good work of the bowlers earlier in the day. Shakib had helped Bangladesh make a promising start, taking three wickets in two overs to nip out the Sri Lankan tail early.
Chamara Kapugedera resumed on 93 but didn't reach his maiden Test century, falling lbw to Shakib on 96 in the day's first over. Mashrafe Mortaza also chipped in with the wicket of Chaminda Vaas and Sri Lanka folded for 384, with Shakib returning figures of 4 for 109.
© Cricinfo
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