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Tigers falter
after a short fight but live another day |
June 27, 2007 (Link to
Scorecard)
The Tigers have put up a
fight in their second innings to delay the
inevitable innings defeat perhaps to the third
day. An honest effort from the Bangladeshi
batsmen was complemented by the clouds which saw
an early day off at the SSC. Bangladesh have
five more wickets in hand to continue their
resistance.
The morning session saw
a solid opening stand between Javed Omar Belim
and Shahriar Nafees. Once again it was the left
hander to fall first and once again unlucky to
be out, not to a wicket taking delivery. The
opening stand came to an end when Shahriar
Nafees chipped down the track only to be caught
and bowled by Muralitharan which was off a clean
strike. Nafees lasted 50 balls scoring 38 with 7
fours. Interestingly that was the only success
in the morning session for the Lankans.
In the afternoon
session, the Tigers faltered, they almost forgot
that their job was not even half done. First
Javed Omar was done in by the reverse swing and
pace from Lasith Malinga. Omar did make a
century in the number of balls he had faced, for
the record, he scored 62 with ten fours. Former
Captain Habibul Bashar probably played his
longest innings in the recent past perhaps,
batting for as many as 25 balls before he nicked
one behind off Chaminda Vaas. After that the
Skipper Ashraful entered to put on a disciplined
batting show along with the always patient Rajin
Saleh.
Sri Lanka by close got
the wickets of Rajin Saleh and Mohammad Ashraful
to make their task for the third day a little
easier. Saleh had done well in playing out 177
balls besides scoring 51 while Ashraful batted
for 131 balls scoring 37. Muttiah Muralitharan
took five wickets in just 45 balls in the first
innings but today he got just two wickets having
bowled 34 overs. At stumps, Bangladesh have left
handed middle order bat Saqibul and wicket
keeper Khaled Mashud holding the guard. The
Tigers would be hoping they keep the Sri Lankans
frustrated for a longer time and also would be
praying for some heroics from the all rounders
Mortaza and Rafique.
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