'Will try to make it a double century'

He may have been out to the first ball he faced early in the morning session, but at the end of the day he was batting on 166 and had taken his side to a dominant position after the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh. The scoreboard will not remember nor reflect that he edged a delivery off a no-ball delivered by Bangladesh pacer Subashis Roy.

“I may have played a false stroke the first ball I faced; I play that way naturally,” said a satisfied Kusal Mendis after the day's play. “After I played that shot I got a second opportunity to do justice to my team. I took that advantage and I provided the team with what they required from me.”

It was his second century in 15 Tests, with the first one being 176 against Australia in Pallekelle last July. So he seems to be in the habit of playing big innings and was relishing the opportunity to turn this century into a maiden Test double ton today.

“I am keen to score a double century. I missed getting one at Pallekele,” he said. “I am a set batsman and the team expects me to score big. I will try my best to score 200, if not more.”

His 196-run fourth-wicket partnership with Asela Gunaratne was what turned the match in Sri Lanka's favour after an uncertain start.

“Asela is also in very good form having scored in the T20s in Australia. I had belief that he would also go for a big score the way he played. During our partnership we ran a lot of singles and when I was tired he scored runs from the other end. That was very helpful for me, but unfortunately for him he got out. It was easy batting with him.”

Mendis, like Bangladesh's Mehedi Hasan Miraz, felt that the wicket would not change much over the next couple of days and that it would continue to help the batsmen. He credited Bangladesh's bowlers for tying Sri Lanka down in the first session and a half.

“They bowled very well in the first two sessions; they had a plan and stuck to it, which is why we couldn't score too many runs in the first one and a half sessions. Initially it was difficult to score quickly; later on because we had wickets in hand we went for the runs.”