Bangladesh national men鈥檚 team spent another disappointing day on the field as they ended the second day of their ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka in Chattogram trailing by 476 runs.
The day was marred by the same vices of the first day 鈥� dreadful catching, bloated body language, sloppy bowling, and at the end of the day, staying well behind of the game.
Bangladesh managed to bowl Sri Lanka in the final session of the day for 531 but that could have been done a lot earlier if they did not decide to showcase how to drop catches.
After dropping three on the first day, they dropped three more in the second.
The first came off Khaled Ahmed鈥檚 bowling in the third over of the second session. After getting Dhananjaya de Silva in the first over after lunch, Khaled induced Prabath Jayasuriya鈥檚 edge in his next over but it was a comedy of errors as skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto fumbled it. Despite that, the ball was still in the air but Shahadat Hossain Dipu at second slip could not take it in two attempts, and by the time Zakir Hasan tried to get to it, the ball hit the ground.
That partnership between Kamindu Mendis and Jayasuriya ended up adding 65 runs, 57 runs more than what it would be if the catch was taken.
Before Shakib Al Hasan eventually broke the stand, Liton Das also dropped an inside edge off Taijul Islam鈥檚 bowling.
Taijul, who went wicketless, almost got Kamindu for 61 when he failed to connect a slog sweep and it went to Hasan Mahmud at the midwicket boundary but the pacer failed to hold on, and the Lankan batter scored 31 more.
The Bangladesh bowlers failed to put pressure on Sri Lanka on a constant basis, and they needed three run outs to bowl them out.
However, after they did, they came out to bat and for once, it seemed like they would get a decent opening stand as Zakir Hasan and Mahmudul Hasan Joy went 12 overs unscathed, adding 47 runs, their highest partnership together.
However, Lahiru Kumara then exploited the gap between Joy鈥檚 bat and pad to knock the bails off, and Bangladesh had to end the day not just under a pile of runs but also without all wickets intact.
Bangladesh batting coach David Hemp indicated towards some dissatisfaction with the lost wicket after the day鈥檚 play.
鈥榊ou have to manage and deal with it [new ball] as an opening batter. I think the key is to break it into compartments. I haven鈥檛 got much to accomplish tonight but I want to set myself for tomorrow,鈥� he said.
鈥楢ll openers around the world will go through this situation in Test or first-class cricket. It is a common occurrence. Players are used to it. Getting your head around it is the most important thing.鈥�
However, Hemp also reassured of his trust in the current opening pair.
鈥榃e feel they are the personnel to do the job at the moment. In terms of the partnerships, they are good players,鈥� he said.
However, the disappointment was there regarding the dropped catches.
鈥楴o one means to drop catches but when the bowlers are working hard to create opportunities, you have to take those opportunities,鈥� Hemp added.
