Mominul, Liton help Bangladesh earn draw in Chittagong

Sports Sunday 04/February/2018 16:15 PM
By: Times News Service
Mominul, Liton help Bangladesh earn draw in Chittagong

Chittagong: Mominul Haque became the first Bangladesh cricketer to hit a century in each innings of a Test match as he and Liton Das helped the hosts secure a draw in the first Test against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Beginning the final day 119 runs behind and with seven second winnings wickets in hand after Sri Lanka had declared their first innings on 713 for nine, Bangladesh needed to bat out three sessions to save the match.
They eventually succeeded in their mission as Mominul followed up his 176 in the first innings with 105 and Liton made 94 after Bangladesh had resumed on 81 for three.
The duo batted through the morning session to frustrate Sri Lanka, their 180-run stand coming to an end when spinner Dhananjaya de Silva had Mominul caught in the slip.
Stand-in skipper Mahmudullah faced 65 balls in his unbeaten 28 as Bangladesh reached 307 for five when players from both sides shook hands with 17 overs remaining in the batsman-dominated contest in which 1533 runs were scored for 24 wickets in five days.
Dhaka hosts the second and final Test from Thursday.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 1st innings: 513 all our in 129.5 overs (Mominul Haque 176, Mushfiqur Rahim 92, Mahmudullah 83 n.o.; S. Lakmal 3/68, R. Herath 3/150) and 2nd innings 307 for 5 in 100 overs (Mominul Haque 105, Liton Das 94; R. Herath 2/80) vs Sri Lanka 1st innings 713 for 9 declared (K. Mendis 196, D. de Silva 173, ARS Silva 109; Tajul Islam 4/219, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3/174).