N.U. Abdul Razzak Udayar
COLOMBO : Sylhet, the metropolitan city, located in the northern region of Bangladesh has been the cynosure of the millions of cricket fans across the globe, this week as the two super heroes of the Sri Lankan cricket squad, 33-year-old Captain, Dhananjaya de Silva and 25-year-old all-rounder Kamindu Mendis stole the limelight by scoring a century each in both innings. Incidentally, these two Lankan Lions who had their schooling at the same institution in Galle, namely Richmond College bravely resisted the rival attack thus keeping the Sri Lankan flag flying high for their worthy contributions that undoubtedly paved the way to convincingly beat the Bangali Tigers in their own lair to take the sweet revenge for the loss that they suffered in the 3 match ODI series under this Bangladesh tour. Interestingly, there are only three instances where a pair of cricketers scored a century each in both innings during the entire history of 147-year-old Test Cricket. Firstly, this record was made by the Australians cricketers, the Chappell Brothers, Ian and Greg against New Zealand in Wellington in 1974. Then it was Pakistan that grabbed the honour through their dashing cricketers Azhar Ali and Misbahul Haq. They made this rare feat against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014. Hence our present captain Dhananjaya de Silva and the former Under 19 skipper Kamindu Mendis should be motivated to bring out their true potential to add more glory to Sri Lanka.
This first Test match was an Acid Test for Sri Lanka as they ate the humble pie in the three match ODI series against the Host Bangladesh though they won the T20 series by 2-1. This crucial encounter that got underway at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on 22nd March was a disaster for Sri Lanka in the morning as it was precariously placed 5 for 57 off 16 overs. Then Danjaya and Kamindu repaired and build the innings in a big battle against the Bangladeshi bowlers, particularly Khaled Ahmad and Nahid Rana. The scoreboard was 259 for 6 when Kamindu left the field placing the challenge on the shoulder of Bangladesh.
In reply, Bangladesh too suffered the same fate of losing the early wickets as the pitch was unplayable. There was no hero for them to stop the inevitable. Sri Lankan bowlers Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara broke the backbone of the Tigers grabbing all the 10 wickets for 188 runs. Tajul Islam and Liton Das got 47 and 25 to add some respectability to the Hosts. In the second innings Sri Lanka were again in deep trouble losing 4 wickets for 64 runs. The former Lankan Captain Dimuthu Karunaratne made a valuable contribution of 51 runs to lay the foundation to guide Sri Lanka in the path of victory. It was again Danajaya and Kamindu that built a massive partnership to get Sri Lanka 418 runs. All-rounder Prabath Jayasuriya gave an invaluable support getting 25 runs to Kamindu when Sri Lankan captain got out scoring 108 runs. Bangladesh who had a great ground support could not resist the Sri Lanka attack as they were shot out for 182. Their hero was Mominul Haq who was unbeaten on 87. Kasun Rajitha was the centre of attraction as he grabbed 5 wickets for this historic victory for Sri Lanka. Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumara secured 3 and 2 wickets respectively. Eventually Sri Lanka won the match by 328 runs. Deservedly, gallant Danjaya received the award for the Player of the match. The second and final Test match of the series will be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chattogram on 30th March 2024.
The wounded Tigers under the guidance of the former Sri Lanka Opener and the Coach of Bangladesh can easily bounce back to stop the progress march of Sri Lanka. Our cricketers should strive hard to maintain their high performance. Let us put an end to Timed out raw and other unwanted disputes to give an unmemorable finish off to this important cricket series.
