Sri Lanka bat through the day without losing a wicket in first Test against Bangladesh

Captain Dimuth Karunaratne unbeaten on 234 as hosts reach 512-3

Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne (R) celebrates after scoring a double century (200 runs) as teammate Dhananjaya de Silva smiles during the fourth day of the first Test cricket match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on April 24, 2021. / AFP / Ishara S. KODIKARA

Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne celebrates after scoring a double century with Dhananjaya de Silva, who also scored a ton, during the fourth day of the first Test against Bangladesh at the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy. AFP

The National

Apr 24, 2021

Dimuth Karunaratne scored his maiden double hundred as Sri Lanka batted through the day without losing a wicket on Saturday to match Bangladesh's 500-plus score in the first Test.

Najmul Shanto and Mominul Haque put on a record-stand of 242 as Bangladesh reached 474-4 on Day 2 of the first Test on Thursday, April 22. AFP

Shanto and Haque hit centuries as Bangladesh take charge of first Test against Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan captain ended the fourth day on 234 while middle order batsman Dhananjaya de Silva moved to 154 as the home side reached 512-3 at stumps, still 29 runs behind Bangladesh's first innings total.

They have added 322 runs for the fourth wicket, the highest stand at Pallekele for any wicket. The previous best was by Australia's Mike Hussey and Shaun Marsh, who made 258 in 2011, also for the fourth wicket.

Karunaratne passed his career best score of 196, set against Pakistan in 2017, by elegantly driving Taskin Ahmed for four and in the same over reached his first double ton.

The 33-year-old left-hander has now been at the crease for more than 11 hours and faced 419 deliveries, 25 of which have been boundaries.

Looks like Pallekele Test is heading towards a draw. The last drawn Test in Sri Lanka was in July 2014 between SL and South Africa at SSC. Since then except Sri Lanka every host nation has produced at least one drawn Test. #SLvsBD pic.twitter.com/5OvQV4VhpV
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) April 24, 2021

Bangladesh took the second new ball in the morning but after failing to make a breakthrough with his seamers, captain Mominul Haque reverted back to spin.

After lunch, de Silva reached his seventh Test hundred by pulling Taskin Ahmed for four. He has faced 278 deliveries and hit 20 fours.

Bangladesh gave away several overthrows and misfields which helped the score.

Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur applauded the efforts of his batsmen.

“Dimuth is a little bit fatigued, but it’s a nice fatigue,” Arthur said. “He’ll be stiff in the morning, but he can resume tomorrow and who knows where he gets to. The initial goal this morning was to have parity by the end of play today. We’re in a really good position.

The game suffered one 29-minute hold-up due to bad light after tea. The players returned briefly but were taken off again in fading light and never went back. A total of 22 overs were lost.