Tea Sri Lanka 84 for no loss (Oshada 52*, Karunaratne 31*) trail Bangladesh 365 (Mushfiqur 175*, Litton 141, Rajitha 5-64, Fernando 4-93) by 281 runs Sri Lanka broke Bangladesh's epic sixth-wicket stand between Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das early, claimed the last five wickets for 90 runs, before their openers strode confidently to 83 for 0 at tea on day two of the second Test, in Mirpur.The headway the visitors have made on the second day was led by medium pacer Kasun Rajitha in the morning, who broke the big stand and claimed his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Oshada Fernando then made his way to a half-century, though he did survive a close lbw shout and a dropped catch on the way.Dimuth Karunaratne was more assured at the other end, moving to 30 by the end of the second session with Sri Lanka still trailing Bangladesh by 281 runs.
With Litton being dismissed after adding only six to his overnight score of 135, it was down to Mushfiqur to press Bangladeshforward alongside the lower order, which he did right through the extended first session.Having begun the morning on 115, Mushfiqur raised the tempo when double-wicket over for Rajitha brought him into the company of the tail.
He searched proactively for scoring opportunities, resorting even to the reverse-sweep he had shunned for much of his innings, on his way to an unbeaten 175, before he ran out of partners.In nine trips to triple figures, he has now passed 150 on five occasions.
As had been the case on day one, it was Rajitha who set the major events in motion, when he dismissed Litton in the seventh over of the morning.The seamers having conceded only two boundaries in the first six overs, Rajitha delivered a length ball in the channel outside off, which Litton prodded at and sent off the outside edge to second slip.
Kusal Mendis, who had recovered from the chest pains that saw him hospitalised on day one, took an excellent catch diving forward.Three balls later, Rajitha struck again, shaping the second new ball away from left-hander Mosaddek Hossain, to have him caught behind.
Rajithahad has easily been Sri Lanka's best bowler in the innings, probing the channel consistently.Mosaddek's wicket completed a much-deserved five-for.
With his last recognised batting partner now out, Mushfiqur kicked into a busier gear, forging a 49-run eighth-wicket stand with Taijul Islam, whose contribution was 15.Mushfiqur made 34 off 42, crossed 150 during that partnership, and would continue to farm the strike until the end of the innings.
Asitha Fernando struck twice with bouncers to take two tail-end wickets, before last man Ebadot Hossain frustrated Sri Lanka for the extra half-an-hour the umpires granted the visitors beyond the scheduled lunch.Bangladesh could only add four further runs after the break before Ebadot was run out at the non-striker's end, however.
Mushfiqur had been pushing for a two so he could keep strike early in a Rajitha over.Oshada and Karunaratne began the reply confidently enough.
In the first over, Bangladesh burned a review on a legside take that Oshada had not edged.He got boundaries away - through the legside initially, before the offside runs started coming too - as the Bangladesh bowlers learned how little margin for error there was on this flat Mirpur deck.
Oshada survived a review for lbw on 39, when an excellent Taijul Islam delivery was projected to be hitting only the outside of the off stump(umpire's call).Not long after, the batter came down the track and hammered a ball to the right of Shakib Al Hasan, who got both hands to the tough chance but couldn't hold on.
He got to fifty by advancing again to the same bowler but this time launching him all the way for six.It was his fifth career half-century, and his first in eight innings..
