Sri Lanka gain control after early strikes against Bangladesh in Sylhet Test
Bangladesh still trail by 248 runs with seven wickets in hand. Opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy remained patient on nine not out off 34 balls and was accompanied by nightwatchman Taijul Islam when play was called off.
Sri Lanka new-ball bowlers Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha removed three of Bangladesh's top four to reduce them to 32-3 at stumps on day one of the first Test in Sylhet.
Bangladesh still trail by 248 runs with seven wickets in hand. Opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy remained patient on nine not out off 34 balls and was accompanied by nightwatchman Taijul Islam when play was called off.
The three southpaws - Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque - failed to reach double figures, leaving the hosts in a spot of bother.
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Earlier, Bangladesh lost the momentum after Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis forged a monumental partnership of 202 but debutant Nahid Rana's pace came in handy as Sri Lanka were bundled out for 280 despite looking set for a much bigger total at one stage.
Sri Lanka collapsed from 259-5 to 280 all-out in the third session. Rana and Khaled Ahmed picked up three wickets each.
Khaled was the pick of the bowlers, maintaining great line and length and generating some movement in the air with the new ball. The right-arm seamer picked up three wickets for 72 runs.
Rana, on the other hand, was belted for 58 runs in his first eight overs but came back strongly with a decisive third-session spell of 6-2-29-3 which included the wickets of centurions Kamindu and de Silva. He bowled with good pace, often hurrying the batters, and the average speed was around 143 kph.
The host fast bowlers breathed fire in the first one and a half hour after Najmul Hossain Shanto decided to field first, reducing Sri Lanka to 57-5. But Kamindu and de Silva counterattacked to put pressure back on Bangladesh.
An elegant strokemaker, Kamindu drove the ball delightfully through the off side and was not afraid to take the aerial route as well.
Both Kamindu and de Silva both notched up their fifties at strike-rates close to 100.
The pacers went for runs in the second session and although the spinners - Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam - stemmed the run flow, Sri Lanka went at 4.6 runs an over in that session.
Kamindu (102) brought up his maiden Test hundred with a splendid square drive off Rana but the young speedster had the last laugh as some extra bounce did the trick for him.
The 21-year-old got rid of de Silva (102) shortly after the Kamindu dismissal, but not before the Sri Lanka captain notched up his 11th Test ton.
The paceman snared Prabath Jayasuriya and then Sri Lanka soon folded for 280.
Earlier, it was the local lad Khaled who drew first blood as he got rid of Nishan Madushka (two) in his first over. Mehidy Hasan Miraz took an absolute blinder at third slip.
Kusal Mendis (16) and Dimuth Karunaratne added 37 for the second wicket before the former's indecision led to his downfall.
Khaled hit the pitch hard with a short delivery which was quite wide and Mendis wasn't sure whether to leave it or have a go and in the process glided the ball straight to Zakir Hasan at gully.
Karunaratne (17) departed in the same over as a gem of a delivery tailing in from Khaled saw him cleaned up.
Sri Lanka soon found themselves at 47-4 when Shanto threw the ball directly at the stumps Angelo Mathews (five) was short of his crease while trying to seal a single.
Shoriful Islam joined the party in the 17th over as Dinesh Chandimal (nine) glanced the ball straight to leg slip. Miraz stood there for exactly that shot and the ball shaped back in, prompting the shot from the Lankan veteran.
