Bangladesh finished Day 3 with 115/6 against Sri Lanka in the second Test of the ongoing two-match series at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. The visitors are still trailing by 96 runs and will like to score as many runs as possible to their current total to avoid an innings loss.

Sri Lanka resumed on 290/2, with Pathum Nissanka four short of his 150. He finally got there in the third over of the day. The Lankans scored more than 300 runs in the same over. Taijul Islam, who had worked tirelessly the day before, eventually struck with his second wicket to get rid of Nissanka (158 off 254). Following his second-highest Test score, the top-order batsman went off to a standing ovation.

The left-arm spinner’s arm ball in his next over brought Dhananjaya de Silva down. Mehidy Hasan Miraz replaced Taijul in the following over. Nahid Rana took his first wicket of the Test with the final ball of his 13th over. Between overs 92 and 98, seven fours were scored. Kamindu Mendis, who appeared to be on his way to a sixth Test fifty, was removed for 33 off 41.

Nayeem Hasan cleaned up debutant Sonal Dinusha (11 off 16) to take his third wicket of the innings. Tharindu Ratnayake, who had tonked Taijul on the third delivery of the 110th over to give the Lankans their second six of the innings, was dismissed by him in the 112th over, also a wicket-maiden. By then, Kusal Mendis had reached the age of fifty.

After Ratnayake left, Mendis proceeded on an attacking frenzy, primarily targeting his tonne before of a possible declaration. However, he ran himself out while attempting a double and was dismissed for 84 off 87. Taijul’s 17th five-wicket haul in Tests came in the same over. Asitha Fernando (0 off 4), who couldn’t resist attempting an overhead shot from the ground, was caught off guard near midfield.

Bangladesh started their second innings on a positive tone, despite facing a 211-run deficit.

They had already scored 30 before the conclusion of six overs. The first wicket occurred as Anamul Haque attempted to draw a short ball from Asitha, only to spoon the easiest of catches to Pavan Rathnayake, the substitute fielder. Prabath Jayasuriya struck on the second delivery of his second over, forcing Shadman Islam to return.

The leading scorer for Bangladesh in the first innings could only manage 12 in the second. In the 17th over, the squad number 50 was called up. Mominul Haque, who could only make four runs off 26 balls, quadrupled his total off the 27th delivery, scoring his first boundary of the game. De Silva came on in the 19th over of the innings and struck for the second time in the game.

He later beat the inside edge of the opposition captain to dismiss Najmul Hossain Shanto for 19 off 48. Dinusha was introduced after 27 overs. His first three overs were quite economical. Mushfiqur Rahim hit his first boundary of the second innings with the 43rd ball he faced. Bangladesh’s troubles worsened when Mushfiqur (26 off 53) was dismissed by Jayasuriya with a jaffa.

Mehidy came out to bat with Bangladesh still down by 111 runs. Mehidy and Litton Das did their best to play out the remaining overs. However, Ratnayake smacking Mehidy (11 off 16) in front on the fourth delivery of the 39th over resulted in Stumps being taken. With that, the final renowned batting pair vanished, and the match firmly shifted in favour of the Lankans.