Bangladesh in Sri Lanka 2013

I know its late, but in recent times the cricket forum hasn't been on top form and so I didn't really feel up to it.
But Bangladesh have come out with a very creditable draw against Sri Lanka in the first test.
SL, batting first, scored 570-4, with hundreds for Sangakkara, Thirimanne and Chandimal. Not many gave Bangladesh a chance then, but they fought hard, skipper Mushfiqur Rahim became the first Bangladesh batsman to score a double ton in test cricket, the enigmatic Mohammed Ashraful scored a patient 190, and young emerging batsman Nasir Hosain scored his maiden test ton to propel Bangladesh towards their first 600+ total and a 68 run first innings lead. Sri Lanka batted well the 2nd time as well, Sangakkara scoring his 2nd ton of the match, and Tillakaratne Dilshan adding one of his own. Mathews then declared with 1 session to go, but Bangladesh easily survived it, losing only one wicket. and Ashraful was at it again, remaining not out on 22 of 56 balls.
Bangladesh's performance become all the more impressive when we consider the fact that both Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal were out with injuries.
It certainly was a road of a pitch, but I am really very happy for Bangladesh. They staied focused and even after facing up to a massive first innings total, they didn't give up. They managed the draw in the 2nd innings without panicking at all.
Tamim is expected to be back for the next game although Shakib will be missed. Sohag Gazi, who gave Shakib great support in the bowling department during the West Indies series, continues to evolve, and that is good news for Bangladesh and Shakib when he eventually comes back.
The next test is starting on the 16th.

Completely pointless to play Test cricket on these type of pitches.

Yes Bangladesh get some credit for the draw, but only 19 wickets falling across 5 days is ridiculous.

That's 2 shocking Test match pitches rolled out in a week - simply not good enough.

1613 runs scored - what's the Test record for a match? Sri Lanka being 905-8 is absurd.

Well It was an impressive show by the bangla players, going hard against a strong team really shows the grooming nature of the young team. Though pitch has nothing special for the bowlers but coming out to bat with a mental pressure of big opposition and doing well. This team really deserves appreciation.

While the pitch had nothing much for the bowlers, we also have to remember that hte bowling units also didn't have a great deal of quality. Rangana Herath is a class act but that's about it. Kulasekhar is too dependent on swinging conditions and doesn't offer anything with the old ball, Shaminda Aranga is still getting to grips with international cricket, Ajantha Mendis bowled a lot of half-tracker rubbish and made Tillakaratne Dilshan look a worldbeater.
As for Bangladesh, they were without Shakib, and young Sohag Gazi looks like he has the makings of a class bowler. But Their pace bowling is nothing to talk about, and Sunny and the rest of the spin backup couldn't find any life from the pitch. Of course it was a horrible flat track, but the bowling too lacked quality.
But if these tracks can teach Bangladesh the art of batting long, I would rather be happy for now.

Pointless to play tests on this pitch, and pointless to put a thread up for the game when its over

Its not just for this particular test, there is another test starting on the 16th. Perhaps a careful look at the title and content is in order?
Anyways, it was a very good showing from the so called minnows, and that in itself is good enough reason to start the thread going even if a touch delied.

Hardly pointless CF, Rahim became the first Bangladeshi to score a double hundred. That deserves some recognition surely?

And there is always a point to playing cricket, regardless of the pitch. I heard Shane Warne say yesterday that cricket is all about having fun - when is cricket never fun? Even when you're losing, there's always something to make you smile.

Pitch was a batting pitch, but blame the pitch as much as you like, but if you watched the game even a bit of it, you would realise, both teams lack world class bowlers, They have 1 test level world class bowler each in Herath and Gazi, rest wont doing anything. Gazi had like 4 drops of his bowling, terrible fielding in general by both teams, mediocre bowling, on a batting friendly pitch.

Sri Lanka moving towards a fairly tedious ODI victory...stroking around the singles in a routine manner

Dilshan with an unbeaten hundred at the top of the order yesterday!

Bangladesh beat sri lanka to draw the odi series - impressive considering they are missing their top 3 seamers and shakib and tamim, this is pretty much a second string BD team

Nasser batting at the end put a relief in the BD side that there is someone who can bat if required lower down the order. His temperament in odd condition proved him to be a fine cricketer. Well done Nasser.

subhranshu.kumar.5 wrote:Nasser batting at the end put a relief in the BD side that there is someone who can bat if required lower down the order. His temperament in odd condition proved him to be a fine cricketer. Well done Nasser.

looks like a class act, averages in mid 40's in both test and ODI's - strike rate of 80 to go with that aswell, averages in the 30's in t20 which is fast growing format

SL beat BD by 17 runs, poor discipline and umpiring cost BD today, shamsur was down the track and hit him above knee roll was given out, golden duck on international debut for him, ashraful was set at 43 of 26, before being given out by a terrible decision, full toss around the wicket hit him about 6 inches outside leg stump line.