Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne (85*) powered Sri Lanka to 229/3 after Bangladesh declared their first innings at 541/7 d on the third day of the first Test here at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Thursday. At stumps on day three, Sri Lanka are trailing by 312 runs as Karunaratne and Dhananjanya de Silva are unbeaten on 85 and 26 runs respectively.
Lahiru Thirimanne and Karunaratne provided a solid foundation to the hosts. The openers added 114-run for the first wicket partnership. Mehidy Hasan Miraz bagged the first wicket for the visitors as he caught Thirimanne in front of the wickets. He departed after scoring 58 runs.
Oshada Fernando and Angelo Mathews failed to convert the start and were sent back to the pavilion after playing brief knocks of 20 and 25 runs respectively.
Karunaratne and De Silva are currently involved in an unbeaten 39-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Earlier, Bangladesh resumed the third day at 474//4 with Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das at the crease. The batsman picked up where they left off, adding a quick-fire 37 runs to their day two partnership. Rahim brought up his half-century - a calculated knock; Liton, on the other hand, registered up his half-century in a much quicker fashion, taking only 67 balls. The partnership helped push Bangladesh's total past the 500-run mark.
Vishwa Fernando got the much-needed breakthrough for Sri Lanka, picking up the key wicket of Liton, and putting an end to the threatening 87-run fifth-wicket stand.
From there, Mehidy Hasan perished to Suranga Lakmal, scoring just three runs. Then, Taskin Ahmed became Fernando's fourth victim, after nicking the ball to Niroshan Dickwella. Bangladesh finally declared at 541/7 with 30 minutes to go in the first session.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 541/7d (Najmul Hossain Shanto 163, Mominul Haque 127; Vishwa Fernando 4/96); Sri Lanka 229/3 (Dimuth Karunaratne 85*, Lahiru Thirimanne 58; Taskin Ahmed 1/35).
( With inputs from ANI )
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