Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama claimed a six-wicket haul on his debut to bowl out Bangladesh for 251 and put the hosts in a commanding position on Day 3 of the first Test in Kandy.

Having dismissed the visitors for 251 in their first innings, Sri Lanka were 17/2 at stumps and as a result, Sri Lanka has extended its lead to 259 runs. Dimuth Karunaratne (13*) and Angelo Mathews (1*) are unbeaten for the hosts at the crease.

Beginning their second innings with a lead of 242, Sri Lanka was given an early jolt as Mehidy Hasan dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne (2) in just the third over of the innings. In the very next over, Oshada Fernando displayed poor game sense as he came charging down the wicket, only to miss the ball and be stumped off Taijul Islam.

Jayawickrama accounted for the wickets of Saif Hassan (25), Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim (40) to trigger Bangladesh’s late collapse as the visitors lost their final seven wickets for 37 runs. The debutant also had Liton Das (8) caught in the cordon by Thirimanne and trapped Mehidy Hasan Miraz (16) and Taskin Ahmed (0) lbw.

Despite having a 242-run lead, Sri Lanka decided not to enforce the follow-on, batting in the dying moments of the day instead, and losing a couple of wickets themselves with spin causing further damage.

Source: India Today