Sports Reporter :
Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka in the second Test of the ICC Test Championship at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy, Sri Lanka today. The match begins at 10.30am (Bangladesh Standard Time). Private satellite sports channel T Sports and private satellite channel GTV will telecast the match live from the arena.
Earlier, the first Test match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ended in a tame draw at the same venue on April 25. By virtue of the draw of the first Test match, the tourists collected 20 points and the hosts also bagged 20 points.
In the first Test, most of the time the batsmen of both teams dominated. Najmul Hossain Shanto of Bangladesh made 163 in the first innings, while Mominul Haque scored 127 in the first innings.
Tamim Iqbal scored 90 in the first innings and remained unbeaten with 74 in the second innings. Ace batsman Mushfiqur Rahim remained unbeaten with 68 in the first innings , while Liton Das hit an exact 50 in the first innings.
On the other hand, Dimuth Karunaratne played a captain’s knock of 244 in the first innings, while Dhananjaya de Silva notched up 166 in the first innings and Lahiru Thirimanne scored 58.
Pacer Taskin Ahmed grabbed three wickets at the cost of 112 runs, while pacer Vishwa Fernando captured four wickets in the space of 96 runs.
Marking the upcoming second and final Test match, Members of Bangladesh Cricket team took part in their practice session in the match venue on Wednesday. All the cricketers joined the practice sessions.
Head Coach of Bangladesh Cricket team Russell Domingo said, ” My boys will play in the second Test for a win. I want that the batsmen keep their consistency. Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque showed a spectacular performance in the first Test against Sri Lanka. It is a tough task for me to form the squad as we have no specialist all-rounder in our squad. However, I shall try to form the squad with the balance of batsmen and bowlers. I shall take my final decision after watching the condition of the wickets on the match day. I want to give Saif Hassan for a more chance.”
He said, ” We want to win the series. If Bangladesh win the series in Sri Lanka, it will be a great achievement for Bangladesh’s cricket. We have a target to win Test series in abroad. We have to play well in the five days. It is a hard job to beat Sri Lanka in their home soil. Our batsmen have to attentive from the very beginning of their innings. After that the batsmen have to bat session after session.”
Captain of Sri Lanka Cricket team Dimuth Karunaratne said, “I don’t think there will be a lot on this pitch for the fast bowlers. It gets slower and slower. It started keeping low in the first Test as well. We’re hoping to play three spinners and two fast bowlers.”
The wickets specialists think the pitch of Pallekele International Cricket Stadium will give the spinners a little more assistance than the wickets for the first Test did. If cloud covers the field the pacers get favour at this venue.
