Chattogram (Bangladesh), April 3 (AP) Fast bowler Lahiru Kumara claimed four wickets for 50 runs as Sri Lanka swept the two-test series against Bangladesh with a 192-run victory in the second match on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka won the first test by 328 runs and with the series sweep maintained its record of not losing a test in Bangladesh.
It won the earlier three-match T20 series 2-1 before losing the ODI series by the same margin.
“We’re very satisfied with the (test) win,” Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva said. “There are many areas for us to improve, and I’ve talked about those with the team and the coaches are working towards that. If we can learn day by day and raise our game by 1%, we can make winning a habit.”
Resuming Day 5 at 268-7 and needing 243 runs for an unlikely victory, Bangladesh was bowled out for 318 with Mehidy Hasan Miraz staying unbeaten on 81.
Occasional bowler Kamindu Mendis, who took 3-32, got the breakthrough for the visitors in the fourth over of the day when he dismissed Taijul Islam, caught by Nishan Madushka at gully.
But Mehidy raised his sixth test 50 off 62 balls, hitting Kamindu for a boundary. He batted aggressively to raise the prospect of his only second century but Hasan Mahmud and Syed Khaled Ahmed failed to give him support.
Both of the batters were dismissed by Kumara, leaving Mehidy 19 runs short of his century. He played 110 balls for his 81, including 14 fours.
“After the team does badly, the players feel bad. They always want to improve. They communicate with each other. We don’t think about test match fees,” Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said. “We are looking for improvement even when we are doing well. Everyone feels bad when we lose, but we prepare very well. We practice very hard.
“This is a very young team. We don’t have much experience. Every player has the desire to improve. Give it more time, the team will make better decisions.”
Sri Lanka posted 531 in its first innings with six batters getting past half-century marks, making it the highest total without any batters scoring a century.
It then dismissed Bangladesh for 178 runs, and took a 353-run lead but the visitors decided against the follow-on. Despite a batting collapse in the second innings, Sri Lanka was able to leave Bangladesh a record chase of 511 after declaring on 157-7.
“The bowlers did their basics on this wicket, and the batters did their job as well,” Dhananjaya said. “The batters were a bit disappointed about not getting runs in the first test, but we have experienced players. I was confident they would get runs.”
Ishant bhai told me that I should never compromise on speed for extra skills: Mayank
Bengaluru, Apr 3 (PTI) Talented fast bowlers are often told to trade-off pace for more variations but Mayank Yadav, at the very onset, received golden advice from his illustrious Delhi senior Ishant Sharma — never compromise on speed to acquire other skills.
Having already bowled this IPL season’s fastest delivery (156.7 kmph) against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), India’s newest pace sensation, during his conversation, with ‘Jio Cinema’ spoke about the tips he got from Ishant, a veteran of 100-plus Tests and another senior pacer Navdeep Saini.
“All the bowlers I spoke to in Delhi, Ishant bhai and Saini bhai, they all told me that even if I wanted to try anything new, I should play around my speed.
“If I want to add a new skill, it should be around my speed and that I don’t need to add any skills that could compromise my speed,” said Mayank
While the focus is on taking as many wickets as possible in a winning cause, the intent of generating pace through every delivery is always there at the back of his mind.
“My attention isn’t on speed as much as it is on taking wickets and contributing to the team by taking wickets. However, it’s always in the back of my mind that when I am bowling deliveries, I need to put pace behind them.
“After a match, I always ask people what the highest speed was but during the match, I am only focused on my bowling.”
Yadav has got high praise for his performances so far, the latest being a 3/14 effort against RCB last night.
