Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das crossed the ages, sharing a record score to turn the tide for Bangladesh in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Dhaka on Monday after a disastrous start. At stomp, Liton was undefeated with a career-best 135 with Mushfiqur at 115, his second hundred in as many innings as Bangladesh reached 277-5 on day one after opting to bat at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium . The pair added 253 to their uninterrupted sixth-wicket stand after Sri Lankan pace bowlers Kasun Rajitha and Asitha Fernando split five wickets between them to leave Bangladesh shattered at 24-5 in a chaotic first hour of play.
Mushfiqur played a part in Bangladesh’s previous highest sixth-wicket tie when he shared 191 runs with Mohammad Ashraful, also against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2013.
Liton brought his third Test 100 from 149 balls due to a missfield, giving Bangladesh five runs.
Mushfiqur, who also scored 105 points in the first Test drawn in Chittagong, then reached his ninth Test hundred from 218 balls.
The pair gave Sri Lanka the only chance during their partnership for more than two sessions when Liton made a catch at 47 on Fernando.
But substitute fielder Kamindu Mendis dropped the chance of a backward square leg.
Kamindu came to the field after Kusal Mendis left for a hospital with chest pains.
Mendis was later allowed to continue playing as his physical condition was not found to be serious, a spokesman for the Bangladesh Cricket Board said.
The hosts got off to a nightmarish start to the match as Rajitha threw opener Mahmudul Hasan for a duck with the second ball of the morning.
Fellow opener Tamim Iqbal, who scored a century in the drawn first Test in Chittagong, also fell for a duck when he sent a lead from Fernando in the next over to be caught brilliantly by Jayawickrama at the back mark.
Skipper Mominul Haque tried to calm the nerves with two fours, including one from the first ball he saw, but Fernando soon slid to wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella when he was on nine.
Rajitha then found a large gap between the bat and Najmul Hossain’s pillow, causing his center stump to swerve into a cart as the left-hander was sent off before eight.
Rajitha body-flashed the next ball to hold Shakib Al Hasan on his feet for a first-ball duck, leaving Bangladesh’s batting lineup in disarray.
Liton hit 16 fours and a six and Mushfiqur hit 13 limits so far.
Rajitha finished the day 3-43 while Fernando claimed 2-80.
Sri Lanka had rewarded Rajitha with a spot on the 11th spot after he impressed in Chittagong by taking 4-60 and playing the match as a concussion substitute for Vishwa Fernando.
promoted
He was one of their two changes, with Jayawickrama replacing Lasith Embuldeniya.
Bangladesh made two changes from the first test when Mosaddek Hossain and Ebadot Hossain replaced the injured Nayeem Hasan and Shoriful Islam.
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