Galle, June 20 (IANS) After four days of hard-fought, seesaw Test cricket at the Galle International Stadium, the first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh remains delicately poised with all three results technically still possible. At stumps on Day 4, Bangladesh sit at 177 for 3 in their second innings, leading Sri Lanka by 187 runs with seven wickets in hand.

With captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and senior batter Mushfiqur Rahim — both centurions in the first innings — at the crease, Bangladesh hold a slight edge going into the final day, but the match remains far from settled.

The day began with Sri Lanka hoping to snatch a first-innings lead after resuming at 430/6. But Bangladesh’s bowlers, led by the incisive Nayeem Hasan, had other plans. The hosts suffered a dramatic collapse, losing their final four wickets for just 15 runs to be bowled out for 485 — 10, short of Bangladesh’s 495.

Nayeem was the standout, picking up a well-deserved five-wicket haul (5-121), his fourth in Test cricket. He used the Galle surface expertly, tossing the ball up, dipping it, and exploiting rough patches to dismiss key batters including Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis (87), and Tharindu Ratnayake in quick succession.

Kamindu had looked untroubled for much of the morning, extending a valuable 79-run seventh-wicket partnership with Milan Rathnayake (39), but Bangladesh’s persistence paid off with a triple-strike burst before and after lunch. The final blow came when Nayeem bowled Asitha Fernando with a classic offspinner’s delivery that turned sharply past the bat to end Sri Lanka’s innings.

With a slender 10-run lead, Bangladesh’s second innings started cautiously but wobbled early as Anamul Haque fell for 4 and Mominul Haque departed for 14, both dismissed before tea. However, the visitors recovered well through a composed partnership between Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto. Shadman was especially impressive, bringing up a gritty fifty before falling lbw to Milan Rathnayake for 76.

While Bangladesh have batted with more control in their second innings, Galle’s pitch — known for deteriorating rapidly — has kept both sides on edge. The bounce has become uneven, and spin is beginning to take centre stage.

That means while Bangladesh may aim to stretch their lead to around 300, they’ll need to do so with urgency if they’re to give themselves enough time to bowl Sri Lanka out again. But scoring too quickly could bring the familiar risk of a collapse — a pattern that has haunted both teams in this match.

With seven wickets in hand and two experienced batters at the crease, Bangladesh will begin Day 5 with a chance to dictate terms.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 495 & 177/3 in 57 overs (Shadman Islam 76, Najmul Hossain Shanto 56; Milan Rathnayake 1/13, Prabath Jayasuriya 1/48) lead Sri Lanka 485 all out in 131.2 overs (Pathum Nissanka 187, Dinesh Chandimal 54; Nayeem Hasan 5/121, Hasan Mahmud 3/74) by 187 runs

–IANS

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