Silva ton deflates Bangladesh

Tea Sri Lanka 237 for 1 (Silva 111*, Sangakkara 59*) lead Bangladesh 232 by five runs
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	Kaushal Silva was let off thrice on his way to a maiden Test hundred © AFP  Enlarge
Related Links Players/Officials: Kaushal Silva Matches: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka at Dhaka Series/Tournaments: Sri Lanka tour of Bangladesh Teams: Bangladesh | Sri Lanka

If three let-offs were hard enough for Bangladesh to take, watching the beneficiary of those lapses, Kaushal Silva, go on to score a century must have been utterly deflating. Sri Lanka tightened their hold over the hosts for yet another session, though they looked more in control after lunch compared to the relatively wobbly morning session. Silva reached his first Test ton and Kumar Sangakkara built on his commanding record against Bangladesh with a steady fifty.

Bangladesh picked up only one wicket over two sessions, that of Dimuth Karunaratne, but they ought to have seen the back of the other opener as well. To Bangladesh's credit though, they created opportunities in an overcast morning session that assisted their seamers. As the sun came out in the afternoon, there wasn't as much seam movement and there was little their spinners could do.

The unluckiest bowler of the morning was the seamer Al-Amin Hossain, who was let down by a combination of poor catching - his captain one of the culprits - and the misfortune of his back foot hitting the stump on his delivery stride. Silva had his first life on 39 when he was squared up by Al-Amin's probing line outside off and edged to the keeper Mushfiqur Rahim who grassed a straightforward take. Silva added one more to his score when he edged Al-Amin again to Rahim, who took it cleanly. The batsman, who had started walking, was asked to wait by the umpires who referred the verdict to the third umpire. Al-Amin's front foot was behind the popping crease but unfortunately, his back foot knocked the bail down before delivery and as per the recent amendment to the laws, it was declared a no-ball.

Silva escaped again, on 42, when he drove Al-Amin away from the body and edged low to Shamsur Rehman, who failed to catch it to his right at gully. Aside from those let-offs, Silva played some attractive shots, like when he lofted the offspinner Sohag Gazi down the ground and brought up his fifty with a boundary off a paddle sweep in the same over.

Sri Lanka consolidated their position in the morning session with periods of watchful play, but after lunch, they added 98 without any further loss of wickets. Sangakkara warmed up with two boundaries through the off side off Rubel Hossain. There were more overs of spin post lunch, but Gazi and Shakib were, at times, guilty of dropping the ball too short. Shakib got away with one when Karunaratne punched a short one straight to cover, against the run of play, but Sangakkara ensured he found the gaps at cover.

Sangakkara brought up the fifty stand with Rubel with a glorious cover drive off Rubel but perhaps his most effortless shot of the day was a defensive push off Robiul Islam that sneaked past the stumps at the other end and beat two fielders chasing.

Silva's knock post lunch was relatively chanceless, though he had a close call on 98 when a ripper from Shakib turned, bounced and beat the edge and the stumps. He pulled a couple of freebies from Shakib down the leg side to head into the 90s and he reached the landmark with a similar pull off Shakib to the fine leg boundary. Silva punched the air as soon as he found the gap and the relief was palpable, considering he failed to achieve three-figures after making 95 and 81 recently against Pakistan. Take away the let-offs, it was a knock that displayed one of his biggest strengths - patience.

Sangakkara reached his 45th Test fifty with a single and the pair helped Sri Lanka take the lead. Another testing session loomed for the hosts.