Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim slammed scintillating centuries as Bangladesh ended Day 1 of their Test match against Sri Lanka on a pretty strong note. Kicking off the new World Test Championship cycle, Bangladesh skipper Shanto slammed the first ton of the new cycle, while former captain Mushfiqur followed suit on a dominant day for the visitors at Galle.
Bangladesh had won the toss and had opted to bat first on a pitch that looked good for the batters with brown grass over it. However, their decision seemed to backfire when the Sri Lankan pacers took three wickets in the first session. At 45/3 in the 17th over, the visitors were in choppy waters. The seamers were finding enough seam movement and reaped the early rewards. Spinner Tharindu Ratnayake and speedster Asitha Fernando took those three wickets.
Shanto, Mushfiqur join hands for marathon stand
After the Sri Lankan bowlers wreaked havoc in the first hour of the opening session, captain Shanto and veteran Mushfiqur joined hands to bail the team out of choppy waters. The two batted with great patience and strode through the tricky phase as they also churned out the runs.
The two put their strong stand and accumulated 92/0 in the second session. They played a strong third session too, making 110/0 in 32 overs in the final session to end the day at 292/3.
Mushfiqur's 12th ton in Test
Meanwhile, this was Mushfiqur's 12th century in Test cricket. He has the second-most tons for Bangladesh in the longest format and is only one behind Mominul Haque's 13. This was the wicketkeeper batter's 21st ton in the international format, four behind Tamim Iqbal.
Sri Lanka's Playing XI:
Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Udara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Milan Priyanath Rathnayake, Tharindu Ratnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando
Bangladesh's Playing XI:
Shadman Islam, Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das (wk), Jaker Ali, Nayeem Hasan, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana