After the third day of the first Test was utterly dominated by Sri Lanka, who lost just two wickets for the addition of 317 runs, batting coach Thilan Samaraweera hinted that they want to further grind Bangladesh out of the game and that they just want to keep batting for now.
Sri Lanka, sitting pretty at 504 for three in response to Bangladesh's 513 all out, seem to be setting their stall out to bat just once in the match and then try to skittle out Bangladesh on the last day to get off to a winning start in the two-Test series. Skipper Dinesh Chandimal was unbeaten on 37 and Roshen Silva, on 87, will be looking to score the team's third hundred today.
“We are not thinking about the lead,” said Samaraweera after the third day's play at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday. “We want to bat as long as possible. We want to firstly bat till lunch on the fourth day, and then see what happens.
“The first two hours are important tomorrow. We have to keep building partnerships and bat normally because 180 [the amount of overs left in the match] is a lot of overs. We have three quality spinners.”
There was just one moment of regret for Sri Lanka in the whole day when opener Kusal Mendis fell just four runs short of what would have been his maiden double-century in the second session. It was the second time he missed the landmark, having been dismissed for 194 against the same opposition in Galle last year.
“The bigger picture is that if he had scored those two double-hundreds, it would have been very special for a 23-year-old,” Samaraweera said. “We believe he has a lot of ability, which is why we put him in the opening position. Tactically speaking, he is very good against spin.”
Mendis was part of a mammoth 308-run second-wicket partnership with Dhananjaya de Silva, who scored a sparkling 173.
“I think full credit goes to the two batters. After Bangladesh made 513 runs, we told the team that we should keep batting,” Samaraweera said. “Those two players set the tone, especially after losing the in-form man from last year.”
DOMINANT DUO
♦ Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis's 308-run stand is the second highest partnership for any wicket against Bangladesh, behind the 311 put on by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in Kandy in July 2007
♦ It was Sri Lanka's third-highest partnership for the second-wicket, behind the 576-run mammoth stand between Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama (against India, Colombo 1997) and the 438-run stand between Marvan Atapattu and Sangakkara (Zimbabwe, Bulawayo 2004)
♦ Kusal Mendis now has scored 450 runs against Bangladesh in five innings, giving him an average of 90 against the Tigers
