Tigers close in on rare away victory

Bangladesh are a few steps away from creating history in their 100th Test match. That may be a tempting way to see the situation that currently prevails in Colombo before Bangladesh's attempt to take the two Sri Lankan wickets as early as possible today and minimise the hosts' lead which currently stands at 139 in order to walk away with a share of the spoils in the two-match series, but if they manage to pull it off today, the enormity of the achievement may even exceed the significance of the 100th Test.

From the debacle of the 259-run loss in the first Test, which in turn led to selection confusion, which then led to interference from every quarter that resulted in a profoundly divided touring party before this current Test, Bangladesh are on the cusp of eyeing a Test win against a team they have never beaten before and on a ground which has produced only innings-defeats for them in the past.

That they have gotten to this position, given the context, is impressive. But they still have to add the finishing touches to prove to themselves, more than anyone, that they have the will to overcome the fifth-day jitters that have afflicted them in all of their recent foreign Tests.

The left-arm spin of the talismanic Shakib Al Hasan and the left-arm pace of rookie Mustafizur Rahman were the instruments of Sri Lanka's struggle in their second innings which currently stands at 268 for eight. They were especially incisive in the second session of the day, which saw Sri Lanka lose five wickets for 63 runs -- all shared by the left-arm duo.

Resuming the last session on 199 for six and leading by 60 runs, Sri Lanka had placed all their hopes on opener Dimuth Karunaratne, who was batting on 110, his fifth Test century. He added a further 18 runs with Dilruwan Perera before Shakib drew Karunaratne forward and induced an edge that was caught by Soumya Sarkar at slip. Skipper Rangana Herath then came in and proceeded to put up dogged resistance, as he had done in Galle and in the first innings here. A review followed when umpire turned down a leg-before appeal against Perera from Shakib, but the replay showed that the ball would have turned past off stump.

With Bangladesh having exhausted their second review in anticipation of getting their quota refilled after 80 overs, saved Perera in Shakib's next over as a leg-before appeal was negated, and replays showed that the ball struck in line and would have hit middle stump.

Mustafizur came back with the new ball and was causing the batsmen a lot of problems with movement in the air. A sharp inswinger beat Herath's whip on the leg side in the 85th over and this time S Ravi held up his finger to the appeal, but Herath's review was upheld as the ball was shown to be going a touch over middle and leg.

But Taijul Islam was called back into the attack in the 92nd over and struck immediately by trapping Herath in front, and the Sri Lanka skipper's review was to no avail. Suranga Lakmal and Dilruwan Perera, who displayed great resolve with an unbeaten 126-ball 26, then carried the team to the close, which was not without drama as off the last ball of the day Lakmal seemed to have been given out to a bat-pad catch off Mosaddek Hossain, but Aleem Dar's nod was not followed by a raised finger when he saw that the batsman was not walking because he was out but because it was the end of the day. But upon review and with the lack of Hot Spot and Ultra Edge, the decision stood.

Earlier, the morning session started with Upul Tharanga being bowled by a beauty from Mehedi Hasan Miraz in the seventh ball of the day. The ball pitched on the middle and leg from around the wicket and turned past Tharanga's bat to take the off stump.

For Sri Lanka, Diuth Karunaratne's fifth Test century stood between Bangladesh and a possibility of bagging the victory on the fourth day itself.