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A day of celebration and despair

Samiur Rahman . Chattogram
19 May 2022 00:00:00 | Update: 19 May 2022 00:57:28
A day of celebration and despair
Bangladesh players appeal for a wicket during the fourth day of their first Test against Sri Lanka at ZACS in Chattogram on Wednesday– BCB Photo

The fourth day of the Chattogram Test unfolded with many possibilities, but at the end of the day, not all of them turned real. Multiple personal landmarks and achievements were beaconing, some were met, and some were wasted.

Bangladesh are still not in absolute command of the first Test as they were all-out for 465 runs in their first innings, giving them a small lead of 68 runs.

The morning session was a dream one for Bangladesh. Two overnight batsmen, Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim carried their innings after a late start due to a wet outfield. Mushfiq and Liton managed to negotiate the Sri Lankan bowlers well throughout the first session, and at lunch, they both were sensing centuries.

Mushfiq was on 85 runs and Liton was on 88 runs at lunch after adding 67 runs in the morning session. But immediately after the lunch break, Liton played an outrageous shot that blurred all his previous efforts. It was wide outside the off-stump and short of length, and Liton just extended his bat to make a soft connection and invited his end.

Tamim Iqbal, who was the frontrunner in completing 5000 Test runs for Bangladesh, missed out due to a cramp after scoring a hundred and he resumed batting after Liton departed but Rajitha bowled him in the very first ball he faced.

The left-hander managed to blanket the traumas caused by Fazal-Huq-Farooqi during the One Day series against Afghanistan, but Rajitha brought back the same old fear by dismissing him through the gates. That kept him 19 runs short of 5000 runs.

Mushfiq probably tried to occupy the crease more as he was less interested in scoring runs. He hit only four boundaries throughout his innings of 282 deliveries. So far, Bangladesh batsmen have scored 71 Test centuries, and the latest one by Mushfiq is the one with the least boundaries. Batting coach Jamie Siddons told the media on Tuesday that he wanted to see Mushfiq taking the bails off after the day’s play, and possibly Mushfiq was very determined to do it once again but he kept losing partners.

Shakib Al Hasan did not last long. He batted for around 30 minutes at the nets before the match and lasted about the same time in the middle. An innings of 26 runs from 44 balls ended with an attempt of a ramp shot, which he could not connect and gave the wicketkeeper an easy catch. Taijul Islam and Nayeem Hasan could not chip in for long, while Shoriful Islam was retired out, which dropped the curtain for Bangladesh in the first innings.

Though there were moments of joy, the day could be even more joyous if Liton could add 12 more runs and Tamim managed 19 more runs. That could bring in some more occasions to celebrate as Bangladesh could see three batsmen scoring centuries in the same innings for only the second time after the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in 2013.

The sight of two batsmen becoming the first and second cricketers to reach the 5000 Test runs landmark for the country on the same Test and the same day could be another interesting visual, but that too did not happen.

Sri Lanka were 39-2 in their second innings at the end of the fourth day’s play. A couple of decisions by the field umpires were overturned in DRS. Certainly, it would be better to see a few Bangladesh bowlers celebrating a couple of times more.

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