Swashbuckling Silva steadies SL

Brief scores at lunch: SL 139 for 1 (Silva 66*, Sangakkara 11*) trail BD 232 by 93
Kaushal Silva made his fourth fifty in as many Tests, but it was achieved on a fortuitous morning session for him, in which he was let off thrice along the way. Bangladesh had no wickets to show for on the opening day and though there was some cheer in the form of Dimuth Karunaratne’s wicket this (Tuesday) morning, they ought to have seen the back of the other opener as well. To Bangladesh’s credit, though, it was a period in which they created opportunities. An overcast morning gave their seamers the ideal conditions to put pressure on Sri Lanka’s set opening pair. There were instances of late away movement beating the outside edge, enough to suggest that the batsmen had to be more watchful. The unluckiest bowler of the morning was the seamer Al-Amin Hossain, who was let down by a combination of poor catching – his captain one of the culprits – and the misfortune of his back foot hitting the stump on his delivery stride. Silva had his first life on 39 when he was squared up by Al-Amin’s probing line outside off and edged to the keeper Mushfiqur Rahim who grassed a straightforward take. Silva added one more to his score when he edged Al-Amin again to Rahim, who took it cleanly. Silva escaped again, on 42, when he drove Al-Amin away from the body and edged low to Shamsur Rehman, who failed to catch it to his right at gully. Al-Amin toiled unrewarded in an eight-over morning spell and Bangladesh turned to spin for a breakthrough. Silva lofted off-spinner Sohag Gazi down the ground and brought up his fifty with a boundary off a paddle sweep in the same over. Karunaratne, who too was watchful in the morning session, reached his fourth Test fifty as well but failed to carry on. He punched Shakib Al Hasan straight to cover as Lanka lost a wicket against the run of play. It wasn’t a brisk session for the visitors but they consolidated their strong position, helped along the way by some good fortune, according to cricinfo.