SL vs BAN 2025 First Test, Day 5: Najmul Hossain Shanto scripts history but series opener ends in draw

The opener of the two-match series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh ended in a draw at the Galle International Stadium in Galle on Saturday, June 21. An intriguing final day wasn't enough for either side to force a result. The second match will commence after a three-day interval.

Bangladesh resumed their second innings with a 187-run lead with skipper, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Mushfiqur Rahim occupying the crease. Quite surprisingly, neither of the two batters were aiming for quick runs. They seemed quite satisfied with nudging the ball in the vacant spaces on the outfield. At one point, there were no boundaries scored between overs 63 and 70.

Mushfiqur was run-out for 49 in a touch-and-go call. Just as he was walking back to the pavilion, the ground staff hurtled in from all sides with covers as rain arrived. Lunch was opted during the normal timeframe, with no overs lost in between. Play resumed after a three-plus hour halt under extremely gloomy overhead conditions.

The final ball of the very first over after play resumed brought about the wicket of Litton Das (3 off 5). It was courtesy of an absolute ripper from Tharindu Rathnayake, who picked up his fifth wicket of the match on international debut. Jaker Ali did not last long. Tharindu dismissed the middle-order batter in his subsequent over.

Shanto finally got to his ton after a prolonged wait in the nineties. He then proceeded to hit his first three sixes of the innings before opting to declare. Bangladesh set the hosts a steep target of 296 to be chased. The 26-year-old remained unbeaten on 125 off 199. He had already scripted history by being the first Bangladeshi player (this one being his second instance) to score centuries in each innings of a Test. He also became the first Bangladeshi Test captain to achieve the feat.

The equation was 296 to be obtained in a span of 37 overs. The final couple of deliveries of the first over were stroked away to the fence by Lahiru Udara. Pathum Nissanka joined the party by dispatching four boundaries off his bat within three overs. However, an overenthusiastic Udara ended his debut on the final ball of the sixth over by getting dismissed by Taijul Islam again.

Nissanka bit the dust in the very next over off the bowling of Nayeem Hasan. The Tigers suddenly had a couple of wickets in quick succession. Nissanka's dismissal brought Angelo Mathews out to bat for his final time in Test cricket. The crowd in the stands were up on their feet to applaud Mathews, who had announced his decision prior to the commencement of the series.

He got his first runs off his 10th delivery. It was quite a challenging period for Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, who himself took 16 balls to get off the mark. The Bangladeshi fielders were quite visibly pumped up and so were their supporters who were making plenty of noise to lift the entire atmosphere around the ground.

With 20 overs left to play, the Lankans still had their two most experienced batters at the crease. The spin duo of Taijul and Nayeem Hasan were tireless in their efforts to provide another breakthrough for their side. Mathews' gritty stay in the middle ended at eight off 45 balls courtesy a brilliantly taken opportunity at silly point by Mominul Haque.

The next three overs after that in which the Lankan legend was dismissed yielded only three runs. A peach of a delivery by Taijul ended Chandimal's 44-ball vigil. It took 13 balls for Kamindu Mendis to get his first run. Skipper, Dhananjaya de Silva, scored his first 12 runs off Nayeem's bowling. The players opted to shake hands after a DRS appeal did not go in Bangladesh's favour at the end of the 32nd over.