Sri Lanka held their nerve till the end after Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto hit his second hundred of the match as the first Test between the two countries ended in a damp draw on Saturday, as rain deprived the match of a fitting climax at Galle.
After being set a target of 296 runs in 37 overs, Sri Lanka were all but battling for a draw since their first wicket fell in the sixth over with the score on 32.听
They batted the next 26 overs to add a further 40 runs with three more wickets lost, but soon Bangladesh realised that there wasn鈥檛 enough time for a result as captain Shanto shook hands to signal a draw despite five more overs scheduled to be played.听
Taijul Islam beat Lahiru Udana to get the first breakthrough while Nayeem Hasan had Pathum Nissanka鈥攖he centurion of the first innings鈥攖o give Bangladesh a chance as Sri Lanka became 34-2 in the seventh over.听
Taijul then bowled Dinesh Chandimal and had Angelo Mathews鈥攚ho was playing in his final innings鈥攃aught at silly point to make Sri Lanka 48-4 with 14 overs remaining.听
But captain Dhananjaya De Silva and Kamindu Mendis hung tight to salvage a draw, which was first at Galle since 2013. This was also Bangladesh鈥檚 first drawn match after 22 Tests.听
Bangladesh began the day with a lead of 187 runs. But Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim were in no mood to hurry things up as they took their time.听
Mushfiq was run out while one run shy of his fifty. His partnership with Shanto yielded 109 runs from 191 balls.听
Bangladesh was 247 runs ahead when rain arrived in the middle of the first session after which the lunch break was prolonged by more than one and a half hours.
But Bangladesh decided to come to bat again after the delay and soon lost Liton Das and Jaker Ali cheaply to Tharindu Rathanayake.听
Shanto then took time to bring his second twin ton of his career鈥攖he first Bangladeshi batter to score twin hundreds in a match twice鈥攊n 190 balls.听
He also became the 16th captain in Test history and the first from Bangladesh to achieve the feat.听
He then shifted gear to hit three sixes in six balls before finally declaring the innings on 285-6 with Shanto remaining unbeaten on 125 off 199, where he hit nine fours and three sixes after making 148 in the first innings.听
Rathnayake finished with a figure of 3-102, while Prabath Jayasuriya and Milan Rathnayake each took one wicket.听
The second and final Test of the series will begin on June 25 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo.
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