Niroshan Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal dig deep to help Sri Lanka draw opening Test
The pair added 99 off 203 balls in an unbroken stand after the visitors were reduced to 161 for 6
The pair added 99 off 203 balls in an unbroken stand after the visitors were reduced to 161 for 6
Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: Madushka Balasuriya
And with that our coverage comes to a close. For myself, Ankur and Thilak, thanks for tuning in. See you again next week for the second Test.
The Man of the Match award goes to Angelo Mathews for his 199 in the first innings. Speaking afterwards he says of falling short of a double century: "Yeah it was disappointing, but once again it's cricket and you got to take what God gives you. I just wanted to get one run and get off strike."
On the match he adds: "It was a batting friendly wicket, but Bangladesh made us work really hard. Credit should go to them, they didn't give us any freebies and made us work for our runs."
The Most Valuable Player award goes to Nayeem Hasan for his 6 for 105 in the first innings.
Mominul: "The second innings was a bit disappointing, but Shakib bowled really well in both innings. We missed Shoriful for sure, but we managed to cover for him. Taijul knows his role, alongside Shakib. He knows the role he has to play, and he was excellent. Every time we have to keep improving, batting, bowling or fielding, we have to keep getting better."
Dimuth speaks first up: "If you take first innings, we could have done much better. As a side we should have put up a big score, unfortunately we couldn't do that. But thankfully the bowlers turned it around. If you take the bowlers, the two fast bowlers did really, in this heat it's not easy but they put their hands up and did really well. The spinners did well in patches but were guilty of being a bit loose, but they will definitely take the lessons from this match. If you play positively you can try and win a match. We tried to do something differently and put them under pressure, but we played some poor shots and then we had to change tactics. We unfortunately couldn't put pressure on Bangladesh on the last day."
4.30pm Time for the presentation ceremony now...
Naim Noor Arnob: "This test match despite not producing result has not been short of excitement. Some good individual honours. Mirpur pitch more fertile and we can expect a result out there."
Joydeepsinghgil: "All in all we've witnessed a that much great match by both of sides both teams played a smart cricket what a test match it is ups and down today and yesterday"
Dickwella and Chandimal remain unbeaten, with a stand of 99, and that will give both of them a good boost going into the next game. When they arrived at the crease Sri Lanka were in a spot of bother, but they weathered the Bangladeshi spinners and then had things their own way after the tea break. Bangladesh will be slightly disappointed they weren't able to go for the win, but it certainly wasn't for a want of trying - especially on a fairly docile pitch. Taijul was the pick of the bowlers with innings figures of 4 for 81, inclusive of a fantastic return catch. In fact the performance of the spinners overall was definitely a positive takeaway for the hosts, with Nayeem Hasan picking up a 6-for in the first innings as well. With a bit more assistance from the pitch, Taijul and co. might have made a game of it on the final day. As for the visitors, their batters were guilty of lacking patience and throwing away good starts in both innings, while their spinners lacked the discipline of their Bangladeshi counterparts. Angelo Mathews' 199 in the first innings was a definite highlight, as was the form of Chandimal. The Lankan seamers though were the main bright spark, showing great patience and desire to stick with their plans and draw out mistakes - something that prior to the game not many might have guessed, due to their general inexperience. On this evidence, there's certainly a lot to look forward to in Mirpur for the second Test next week.
4:12pm So there was a minimum amount of overs that needed to be bowled in the day before players could shake hands and call the match as a draw. As the day started with one ball already bowled from Taijul, they just needed to bowl one delivery in this over before being able to end the game.
He is expected to take at least three weeks to recover
"The wicket didn't have anything for the bowlers. We are very happy with the draw"
The pair added 99 off 203 balls in an unbroken stand after the visitors were reduced to 161 for 6
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