Bangladesh dances to Murali's tunes by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Event:

Sri Lanka in Bangladesh 2008/09

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DateLine: 27th December 2008

 

Bangladesh did well to restrict the Sri Lankan batsmen to 293 but what followed was the all familiar tale of capitulation. The bowlers though not very spectacular did well to maintain a steady and nagging line and length to prevent the Sri Lankan batsmen to tee off without any control. Shakib Al Hasan claimed his third five wicket haul and only Samaraweera offered any kind of resistance with his defiant 91. The springs in the steps of the Bangladeshi fielders when leaving the field were very much evident and with the high fives all around they knew that they had accomplished a huge task of restricting Sri Lanka but then the batsmen failed to do the follow up act of the bowlers and once again the Bangladesh were left with a huge mountain to climb.

 

The batting collapse undid all the excellent work of the morning session. After making life difficult for New Zealand and South Africa, Shakib showed the Sri Lankans what he's capable of with his third five-wicket haul in as many Tests. It was a session on fluctuating fortunes as Samaraweera and Vaas took control with a stand of 99 but the second new ball altered the script.

 

Sri Lanka relied heavily on Samaraweera, their last recognised specialist batsman, to steer them out of choppy waters and he responded to their call. Vaas played commendably and the feature of his batting was that his positive attitude. He played the ball according to its merit and the partnership was growing slowly. Bangladesh's best chance of turning things around was with the new ball and one could sense their desperation to get their hands on it quickly as Ashraful rushed through a couple of overs shortly before it was due. Mashrafe Mortaza struck soon, getting Vaas to feather an edge on the forward prod. Prasad was trapped by Shakib in front. Careless calling sent back Rangana Herath, as he nudged it just wide of Mushfiqur Rahim and was ball-watching for the most part before the throw landed at the bowler's end.

 

Samaraweera fell an over later for 90, as an attempted dab to third man resulted in a catch to Junaid Siddique at first slip and fittingly Shakib led his team off the field.

 

But unfortunately the batting collapse undid all the good work. The relatively new Bangladesh opening pair of Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes played positively against the seamers with forceful shots off the front foot. Chaminda Vaas beat the bat on quite a few occasions while Dammika Prasad, on the other hand, tried to rush the batsmen with his pace and bounce.

 

Kayes was particularly strong through the off side, moving to the pitch of the ball and scooping two boundaries over extra cover off Prasad and Muralitharan, and punching Prasad back down the pitch when he bowled it too full. Prasad responded to those hits with a few nasty bouncers which had Kayes in a fair amount of discomfort. Prasad pegged away in the area outside off, but the outside edges dropped short of gully.

 

The introduction of spin in the ninth over indicated that Sri Lanka were looking to spin to break the partnership. It took just two balls for Muttiah Muralitharan to strike: he drew Tamim forward and induced an edge off the glove to Malinda Warnapura at forward short-leg. Vaas came back for a new spell and struck too, as Kayes prodded forward and got a thin edge to Prasanna Jayawardene.

 

Mohammad Ashraful got off the mark by delicately steering Vaas to third man and scooped the same bowler over mid-off. Those two shots suggested he was in form, but he was deceived by some smart field placing by Mahela Jayawardene, who kept two fielders in the short cover region for the mistimed drive. Ashraful duly slashed a wide delivery off Vaas to Dilshan, one of the two fielders in that position.

 

Junaid started confidently too, scoring two firm boundaries past midwicket in one over from Vaas, and charging Herath for a boundary over mid-on. However, he invited his own downfall by exposing his stumps to Muralitharan just before tea, as the inside edge rolled off his pad and onto the stumps.

 

Even after tea Muttiah Muralitharan continued his utter domination of Bangladesh, taking 5 for 48 - his 11th five-for against them - to leave the home team struggling at 177 for 9, still 116 behind Sri Lanka's first-innings total of 293, when bad light forced an early end to the second day's play. The batsmen were hopelessly out of their depth but what made the scenario worse was that each of the batsmen got starts but were guilty of throwing their starts away.

 

Prasad also made his presence felt with the wicket of Raqibul Hasan when he beat the batsman for speed. A stunned Raqibul's face told the story. Prasad pitched the ball on the offstump and the ball hissed of the pitch hitting the top of the offstump before Raqibul can even get his bat halfway down to cover the line. Prasad's speed was a cause of concern for the Bangladeshi batsmen but it was the magic of Murali's wrists that brought about their downfall. Shakib and Mehrab Hossain jnr added 42 runs for the sixth wicket. That partnership featured a couple of audacious sixers of Murali, as it was the only time when the threat of Murali was negotiated. But that partnership also did not last long as Herath brought an end to the growing association.

 

One wicket brings another as Shakib and Mortaza fell in quick succession to Murali and when Shahadat Hossain was easily stumped by Jayawardene of Murali, he had another five-fer added to his career statistics. Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahbubul Alam saw off the last few overs of the day and when the bad light was offered to the batsmen they gladly and rushed back to the comforts of the pavilion.