Sri Lanka 531 and 102 for 6 (Mathews 39*, Madushka 34, Hasan 4-52) lead Bangladesh 178 (Zakir 54, Asitha 4-34, Kumara 2-19) by 455 runs
It was also their fifth successive sub-200 score in Tests, as their batting crumbled on either side of the lunch break on the third day.
Sri Lanka had a few whiffs of a wicket but Zakir and Taijul kept them at bay for an hour and 19 minutes in the morning session. That changed quite spectacularly when Vishwa burst an inswinger through Zakir sending the leg-stump on a cartwheel.
Soon afterwards, Prabath got the captain Najmul Hossain Shanto to chip one to a short midwicket. Dimuth Karunaratne was stationed at that spot for the exact shot which is one of Shanto’s release shots early in the innings. He now has scores of 5, 6 and 1 in this Test series.
Bangladesh lost a third wicket in three overs when the left-arm quick Vishwa got another of his fast in-duckers ripping into Taijul’s off-stump. The nightwatcher, sent in at No. 3 on the second evening, resisted for an impressive 61 balls.
Sri Lanka continued the pressure after lunch when Asitha set up Shakib Al Hasan with a two-card trick. After bowling a series of short balls, Asitha surprised the left-hander with a full ball. It struck his front pad plumb, Shakib going for 15 in his first innings in almost 12 months.
Three balls later, Asitha removed Litton Das. The wicketkeeper-batter, under fire for his careless shot in Sylhet last week, struck a nice cover drive before edging a straight, slightly wide delivery from Asitha. Kumara got Shahadat Hossain to edge one to second slip.
Sri Lanka dropped two catches around this time, while Mominul Haque became the fourth Bangladeshi batter to reach 4,000 Test runs. The experienced left-hander batted confidently at the ground where he has seven Test centuries. But Asitha’s yorker resulted his lbw dismissal, for 33. Khaled Ahmed fell in Asitha’s next over, another yorker, giving the fast bowler his fourth of the innings.
The pacers’ domination continued in Chattogram when Hasan and Khaled rocked Sri Lanka with six wickets.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis dragged on off Hasan and Khaled respectively. Hasan then removed Nishan Madushka, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya in consecutive overs in his second spell.
Madushka struck one to extra cover while Shahadat Hossain finally caught one in the slips, removing Chandimal for nine. Dhananjaya was caught behind for one, as Hasan was rewarded for his off-stump channel consistency.
Khaled rounded up the day with Kamindu Mendis’ wicket, edging one behind the wicket for nine. Captain Shanto took the timely review which showed the edge. Bangladesh’s fielders enjoyed the wickets; at one stage, four fielders from the slip cordon chased an edge to the boundary much to the tiny crowd’s glee. The players walked off slightly happier than earlier in the day although they have a mountain to climb in the fourth innings.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
Source: ESPN Crickinfo