SL vs BAN 2025 2nd Test, Day 3: Jayasuriya, De Silva's double strikes leave Bangladesh battling to avoid innings defeat

Bangladesh ended Day 3 on 115/6 against Sri Lanka in the second Test of the ongoing two-match series at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo. The visitors still trail by 96 runs and would be keen on adding as many runs as possible to their existing total to avoid an innings loss.

Sri Lanka resumed on 290/2 with Pathum Nissanka four shy of his 150. He eventually got there in the third over of the day. The Lankans got past the 300-run mark in the same over. Taijul Islam, who had toiled away relentlessly the previous day, finally struck with his second wicket to get rid of Nissanka (158 off 254). The top-order batter, after registering his second-highest score in Tests, walked off to a standing ovation.

An arm ball by the left-arm spinner in his subsequent over brought about the downfall of skipper, Dhananjaya de Silva. Mehidy Hasan Miraz replaced Taijul from the next over. Nahid Rana got his first wicket of the Test on the final ball of his 13th over. Overs 92 to 98 saw a total of seven fours being scored. Kamindu Mendis, who looked set to get to his sixth Test fifty, was dismissed for 33 off 41.

Nayeem Hasan cleaned up debutant, Sonal Dinusha (11 off 16), to snap up his third wicket of the innings. Tharindu Ratnayake, who had tonked Taijul on the third ball of the 110th over to bring up the Lankans' second six of the innings, was dismissed by him in the 112th, also a wicket-maiden. By that time, Kusal Mendis had already got to his fifty.

After Ratnayake got out, Mendis went on an attacking spree mainly targeting his ton before a potential declaration. However, he ran himself out while attempting a double to be dismissed for 84 off 87. Taijul bagged his 17th five-wicket haul in Tests in the same over. Asitha Fernando (0 off 4), who couldn't resist attempting an aerial shot down the ground, was caught out at mid-on.

With a deficit of 211 to overcome, Bangladesh started their second innings off on a positive note. They had already put up 30 by the end of six overs. The first wicket fell when Anamul Haque tried to pull a short ball by Asitha, only to spoon the simplest of catches to Pavan Rathnayake, the substitute fielder. Prabath Jayasuriya struck on the second delivery of his second over to get make Shadman Islam head back.

The top-scorer for Bangladesh in the first innings could make only 12 in the second. The team 50 was brought up in the 17th over. Mominul Haque, who could muster only four runs off 26 balls, doubled his 26-ball score off the 27th delivery he faced, scoring his first boundary of the innings. De Silva brought himself  on in the 19th over of the innings and struck in his first over for the second time in the game.

He later went on to beat the inside edge of the opposition skipper to dismiss Najmul Hossain Shanto for 19 off 48. Dinusha was introduced at the end of 27 overs. His first three overs were quite economical. Mushfiqur Rahim got his first boundary of the second innings on the 43rd ball he faced. Bangladesh found themselves in further trouble after Mushfiqur (26 off 53) was dismissed by a jaffa by Jayasuriya.

Mehidy walked out to bat with Bangladesh still trailing by 111 runs. The duo of Mehidy and Litton Das tried their best to play out the remainder of the overs. However, Ratnayake rapping Mehidy (11 off 16) in front on the fourth delivery of the 39th over saw Stumps being taken. With that, the last recognised batting pair disappeared and the match firmly tilted in the balance of the Lankans.