Sri Lanka had Bangladesh on the ropes during a major collapse to bowl them out for 251 after declaring at 493 for 7 on the third day of the second and final cricket Test as debut-making left arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama picked up six wickets to cause the slide at the Pallekele International Stadium on Saturday.
Bangladesh were cruising smoothly at 151 for 2 at one stage but lost their way when opener Tamim Iqbal was caught at slip by Lahiru Thirimanne to a ball from Jayawickrama with his score on 92, missing a century for the second time in the series.
He hit 12 fours facing 150 balls after initially laying what looked like a solid foundation for a big total when he shared in an opening stand of 98 with Saif Hassan who contributed just 25 before becoming Jayawickrama’s first victim in Test cricket.
In-between, Ramesh Mendis with his off-spinners accounted for the wicket of first Test century-maker Najmul Shanto who was caught by Thirimanne at slip without scoring a run.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque attempted to salvage the Bangladesh innings but with their partnership having realized 63 runs for the fourth wicket, Jayawickrama stepped in once again to account for his third wicket.
He trapped Rahim for 40 and a few minutes later did the same to Mominul who missed his half century by one run after hitting seven fours.
Jayawickrama then ripped through the late order batting with three more wickets to end up with figures of 6 for 92 from 32 overs as Bangladesh were bowled out for 251, 242 runs behind Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 493 for 7 declared with fast bowler Suranga Lakmal taking the last two wickets.
Jayawickrama, 22, a product of St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa replaced Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva who went wicket-less in the high-scoring drawn first Test at the same venue.