Cricket
Sri Lanka make solid start
2013-03-08 09:08
Galle - Tillakaratne Dilshan cracked a solid
54 as Sri Lanka reached 132-1 at lunch on the opening day of the first
Test against Bangladesh in Galle on Friday.
Former captain Kumar
Sangakkara was unbeaten on 44 at the break with opener Dimuth
Karunaratne (20 not out) after the hosts had won the toss and elected to
bat.
Dilshan played some attractive shots as he smashed four
boundaries early in his innings, two each off pacemen Shahadat Hossain
and Abul Hasan. He then hit two successive fours off off-spinner Sohag
Gazi.
He completed his 22nd Test half-century in style when he
drove left-arm spinner Elias Sunny past mid-on for a four before falling
in the next over, caught by debutant Mominul Haque at mid-off off Gazi.
Dilshan hit nine fours in his 63-ball knock.
Left-handed
Karunaratne, who retired hurt on 15 after being struck on the elbow
while trying to pull Hossain in the ninth over, returned after the
dismissal of Dilshan.
Sangakkara, who returned to the team after
missing the third and final Test in Australia in January due to finger
injury, started impressively as he hit a four off the first ball he
faced from Hossain.
He has so far hit five fours in his 65-ball knock.
Sri
Lankan batsman Kithuruwan Vithanage, and Bangladesh's Mominul Haque and
Anamul Haque made their Test debuts. Anamul replaced hard-hitting
opener Tamim Iqbal, who was ruled out of the match due to an injury.
Sri Lanka's unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis, who played his last Test in May 2011, returned to the Test team.