Sports Desk: Bangladesh's captain Mominul Haque's 11th Test hundred, his first away from home, further compounded the woes for the hosts as Bangladesh reached a commanding 378 for 2 at lunch on Day 2. The elegant left-hander, in the company of the obdurate Najmul Shanto, who went on to remain unbeaten on 155, ensured that there was no comeback for Sri Lanka, who started the day with the hope of striking early with the second new ball.
Resuming at their overnight score of 302 for 2, the visitors opted for caution over aggression, happy to bide their time, even as the hosts' bowlers kept a firm check on the scoring rate. On a wicket that has shown little signs of helping bowlers, both pace and spin, Sri Lanka were largely disciplined with the ball, and conceded only one boundary each to both batsmen in the first hour of play. In further signs of the pitch not gaining any pace or bounce on the second morning, the one edge that Suranga Lakma produced off Mominul, also bounced well in front of Lahiru Thirimanne at second slip.
Dimuth Karunaratne kept rotating his bowlers around, having started the day with the two front-line pacers. He brought on Mathews for a short spell, before turning to the express pace of Lahiru Kumara – as he tried to unsettle the batsmen with the short-ball theory. Even as the runs dried, the patience of both the overnight batsmen didn't, as they took their team to a commanding position.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 378/2 (Najmul Shanto 155*, Mominul Haque 107*; Vishwa Fernando 2-75) vs Sri Lanka.
