SL vs Ban: Karunaratne's double ton, de Silva's century pushes 1st Test towards draw

Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne hit a double ton while Dhananjaya de Silva scored an unbeaten 154 as the hosts didn't lose a single wicket on day four of the opening Test against Bangladesh on Saturday, before bad light stopped play.

It was a wicketless day for Bangladesh with Karunaratne (234*) and De Silva (154*) sharing an unbeaten 322-run stand as Sri Lanka went to stumps with 512 runs on board. The hosts are still trailing by 29 runs with seven wickets in the bag as the Test moves towards a draw.

Sri Lanka had ended day three on 229/3 after Bangladesh declared their first innings at 541/7 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Resuming day four, Karunaratne and de Silva ensured Sri Lanka went through the first session without losing a wicket, adding 102 runs to the overnight total.

Karunaratne brought up his 11th Test century and his knock helped hosts further reduce the first-innings deficit against the visitors to below 300.

Meanwhile, de Silva completed his half-century as Sri Lanka went past the 300-run mark before the completion of the first session.

In the second session, de Silva converted his fifty into a ton as he hit his seventh Test century. Karunaratne and de Silva added 252 runs at the end of the second session as the duo extended their solid stand to 252, piling further misery on Bangladesh bowlers.

After 139 overs in the innings, play was stopped due to bad light. But the match began soon after with Sri Lanka scoring 55 in the next ten overs before the proceedings halted again due to bad light.

In the third session, de Silva went past 150 while Karunaratne hit his first double ton as Sri Lanka crossed the 500-run mark before umpires called stumps.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh 541/7d (Najmul Hossain Shanto 163; Vishwa Fernando 4/96); Sri Lanka 512/3 (Dimuth Karunaratne 234*, Dhananjaya de Silva 154*; Taskin Ahmed 1/91).

( With inputs from ANI )