Bowlers score 84, batters 85 for Tigers in Sylhet

Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed and Shoriful Islam, three players who are part of the Bangladesh eleven in the ongoing first Test against Sri Lanka for their bowling abilities, almost outscored the designated batters of the side, saving the hosts from conceding an even larger lead in Sylhet today.

Taijul, who came out to bat in the last session of the opening day, survived the morning session today and made 47 runs, his highest score in Tests, before falling to Kasun Rajitha after lunch.

Khaled and Shoriful made 22 and 15 respectively and formed a 40-run partnership for the ninth wicket, which brought down the deficit below 100.

In total, the three bowlers made 84 runs while the other specialist bowler in the team, Nahid Rana, remained unbeaten on 0.

Meanwhile, the seven batters in the team accounted for 85 runs, with Liton Das being the highest scorer among them with 25 runs.

Shahadat Hossain Dipu, Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Mahmudul Hasan Joy got into double figures, making 18, 11 and 12 respectively, while Zakir Hasan (nine), skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (five) and Mominul Haque (5) departed for single-digit scores.

In the end, the hosts got bundled out for 188 in reply to Sri Lanka's first innings score of 280, conceding a 92-run lead.