Sri Lanka also should score runs on this wicket – Milan

Thursday, 19 June 2025 02:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Milan Rathnayake celebrates a wicket

Fast bowling all-rounder Milan Rathnayake who led a late charge on the Bangladesh batting to capture three wickets towards the end of the second day said that he expects the Sri Lankan batsmen also to score runs on the Galle pitch going into the third day of the first Test today.

“This is a good wicket to bat on. We have good batsmen with us. We can surely say that this wicket is good for our batsmen,” said Rathnayake at the end of the second day. Bangladesh winning the toss and batting first ended the rain-hit second day on 484-9 after resuming at 292-3.

“We planned to reduce the run rate to under 3 and we could do it today. This is a different wicket than what we played before. I think it is better for the batsmen.” On the chances that Sri Lanka missed out, Rathnayake said, “It had an impact, but we recovered towards the end of the day. They batted really well but if we could have held on to the chances, runs on the board could have been less.”

Bangladesh’s batting coach Mohammad Salahuddin was hopeful that his team still had a good enough total to bowl at Sri Lanka despite the late collapse.

“We batted really well in the first two sessions, but we could have done better later. We still have a pretty good total. Maybe tomorrow if we can bowl well, we can actually control the game.”

On Mushfiqur Rahim’s lengthy knock of 163, Salahuddin said, “I think he’s someone who can genuinely inspire the team. He’s experienced. Even though he hasn’t been scoring runs in the last few matches, his work ethic, constant desire to improve, and the character he consistently shows in the dressing room — these are all qualities you want from a senior player.”

Salahuddin also praised the mental toughness of the captain Najmul Hossain whom he said batted with a swollen finger to score 148.

“Najmul is a tough guy. I don’t think a lot of people wouldn’t be able to keep his wits about himself despite going through so much pain. He is a mentally tough character as a leader, and that helps the rest of the team.” – [ST]

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