Bangladesh lost yet another Test series at home. The 10-wicket mauling by a fairly inexperienced Sri Lankan side on the final day of the second Test in Mirpur yesterday meant that the Tigers have now lost all the five Test series played against Sri Lanka at home, including the 1-0 series defeat in the latest one.
There was not any significant difference between hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in terms of international experience as the two subcontinental rivals locked horns in a two-match Test series within the past two weeks.
Sri Lanka kept their record of winning every Test series in Bangladesh intact with a comprehensive 10-wicket victory over the Tigers in the second Test of the two-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon backed the Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque and said that his captaincy is not something the management is worried about.
Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo mentioned that the tailor-made pitches in the past at home has hurt the Tigers' improvement in the long run and the South African also urged to create sporting pitches to enhance performance in the longest format of the game.
Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo said that it is not possible to win Tests after suffering horrible batting collapses as the Tigers did in the recently-concluded home Test series against Sri Lanka.
It all came crumbling down for Bangladesh just after Lunch on the fifth and final day of their series-deciding Test against Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.
Premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has taken himself to a new height as he has bagged a five-wicket haul and also scored a fifty in a Test on 10 occasions, the second most after legendary all-rounder Ian Botham of England.
Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam has been fined 25 per cent of his match fees, slapped with a demerit point as well, for throwing the ball at Angelo Mathews even though the Sri Lanka batter was safe inside his crease and was not even looking to take a run.
Since rain played foul, washing out over two hours of the third days’ play in the second and series deciding Test, Bangladesh will be eyeing to remove in-form Angelo Matthews on the fourth day. Mathews has reached a fifty and will hold the key for Sri Lanka as they look to take a first-innings lead for the visitors today.
There was a wonderful trajectory to Shakib Al Hasan’s deliveries and he kept Bangladesh in the game on a day largely foiled by rain.
Despite having the big names of world cricket in Bangladesh's fast bowling coach over the years, with the likes of Courtney Walsh, Ottis Gibson and now Allan Donald working as the pace bowling coach, Bangladesh’s seam bowling department is yet to become an intimidating force, especially in the longest format of the game.
Half-centuries on Day 3 from former skipper Angelo Mathews and all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva took Sri Lanka to a position of strength in the second and deciding Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur on Wednesday.
Bangladesh batter Liton Das and Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews have made valuable gains in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after fine performances in the drawn first match of their ICC World Test Championship series in Chattogram.
Both Shakib and Mushfiqur are 35 and Tamim is 33. Siddons said that his aim was to get the seniors to end their careers on a high.
The visitors reached 210 for four at Lunch, which was taken five balls ahead of schedule due to rain.
Liton Das has been the name of a revolution for Bangladesh over the past one year or so as the elegant right-hander keeps taking his game to greater heights with commendable consistency.
“He has a deeper understanding of his game and that is making the difference,” Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, a long-term mentor to Mushfiqur Rahim, said about one of his favourite students while talking to The Daily Star yesterday.