Test match where Sri Lanka came second best

Player of the Match Najmul Hossain

Angelo Mathews, playing his final Test, is given a fitting farewell by his teammates

• Is Sri Lanka’s grip on Galle as its bastion diminishing?
• Galle suffers first drawn Test since 2013

GALLE: Galle, the bastion of Sri Lanka in Test cricket, is no longer providing results that favour the home side as Pakistan in 2023, Australia in February 2025, and Bangladesh yesterday have proved.

Sri Lanka at one time were unbeatable at this venue, but overseas teams have found ways and means of encountering Sri Lanka’s spin threat and succeeded in winning or drawing matches.

Sri Lanka went to the first Test of the two-match series hoping to make a winning start to their campaign of reaching the final of the new ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle (2025-2027), but ended up fighting to save the Test against a Bangladesh side that called all the shots – from the time they won the toss and batted first.

Prior to the match, Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya de Silva had emphasised on the importance of winning matches played at home, but all that Sri Lanka had to show was a draw where both teams had to share eight points.

It was the first drawn Test at Galle since 2013. On that occasion too, it was Bangladesh who were the opponents.

Needless to say, Bangladesh had the upper hand in the Test after skipper Najmul Hossain and Mushfiqur Rahim scored centuries and ran up a total of 495. Sri Lanka, who would have benefitted had they gained a substantial first innings lead, failed to do so and eventually conceded a 10-run lead to Bangladesh, which they extended overall to 296 courtesy a rare century in each innings (148 and 125*) from Najmul, only the second overseas player to do so on Sri Lankan soil after West Indian Brian Lara (221 and 130) at SSC in 2001. Sri Lanka had 37 overs to survive and they struggled with 72-4.

“I always talk about doing well in the first innings. The grip went away from our hands. I don’t think we bowled all that well. It is a true flat wicket but we were not up to the mark. Credit to Bangladesh as well for the way they batted. They came up with good plans and put us under pressure,” said de Silva.

Former Captain Angelo Mathews, who was making his final Test appearance, said: “I thought Bangladesh batted really well. Mushy and Shanto [Najmu], especially in the first innings. After losing the three early wickets, they batted brilliantly, and they pushed us back. Once you get a 400 in the first innings, it’s really difficult to lose a game. We had to bat really well in our first innings. Pathum [Nissanka] batted brilliantly. He was just pure class but the rest of the batters couldn’t really bat the way Pathum did. But I thought we scrapped our way through to minimise the lead. In the second innings, Shanto batted brilliantly.” 

“It was a tough wicket for the bowlers to be honest. There were times when it turned a little bit but didn’t really have anything for the bowlers. Our fast bowlers were brilliant in the first innings. The bowlers, right throughout the game, kept working extremely hard because it was not easy – it wasn’t turning that much. But we just stayed in the game. If we had taken a couple of early wickets in the first innings, we could have pushed for a win but unfortunately, we couldn’t. I am thankful that we were able to do quite well. The worst possible result would be a loss because Bangladesh played so well in this Test match. But we kept fighting and then we didn’t want to lose because we have one more game to go and we can still win the series.” 

Bangladesh Captain Najmul Hossain said that he was very happy to contribute to the game and added: “It was a great comeback after we lost three wickets very early in the game. We were low in confidence coming into the series but this was a very good Test match for us. We wanted to declare early but rain forced us to rethink. Taijul [Islam] bowled really well and so did Nayeem [Hasan]. Nayeem hasn’t had enough chances in the big stage, but he showed what a good bowler he is.”

Bangladesh performed exceptionally well without their current top run-getter in Test cricket Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who had to sit out the match due to a fever. Mehidy is expected to return for the second Test starting at the SSC grounds on 25 June and is likely to bolster the side further.