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Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto defended their strategy to carry on batting late on the fifth day despite opening a chance to try to bowl Sri Lanka out to win the first Test at the Galle International Stadium on Saturday.

Beginning the day with a lead of 187 runs, Bangladesh could only add 50 runs in 19 overs before rain interrupted play, leaving the visitors with a lead of 247 runs.

But Bangladesh decided to come to bat again after a delay of more than three hours, including the lunch break.

With Shanto unbeaten on 89 and the prospect of achieving a record twin hundreds, Bangladesh batted for an additional 11 overs, increasing their lead to 295 runs.

Shanto, however, increased his scoring rate after reaching his century, hitting three sixes in the final two overs of Bangladesh’s innings.

When he was asked whether Bangladesh could accelerate a bit early, Shanto replied that they thought otherwise.

‘I didn’t think so,’ Shanto told reporters after the match.

‘As you said, the wicket wasn’t as expected as a day five wicket. Even when we were batting on day four, we did it comfortably.

‘We were trying to be in a position where the probability of losing was less and the probability of winning was more. But the rain in the middle changed our plans a bit.’

Shanto also said that they were thinking about winning, but there wasn’t enough time to bowl Sri Lanka out either way.

‘Throughout the match, all we thought was how to win the match. We were not in a position to play more aggressively in the morning [today],’ he said.

The Bangladesh captain also claimed that they scored at an enough rate in the morning.

He said, ‘We took one hour to understand how the wicket would behave. I would rather not say that we took time, as we were scoring at three runs per over as we scored around 60 [50] runs in the first 17-18 overs [19].’

He also said that the rain disrupted their plans.

‘Had we batted till lunch, the scenario would have been different. The wicket was such that we would have needed at least 60-70 overs [to bowl at them],’ said Shanto.

However, the bowlers, especially the two spinners Taijul Islam and Nayeem Hasan, tried hard to give their best shot. They managed to pick up four wickets, but Sri Lanka eventually held on.

‘I am not worried at all [with the batting approach]. The bowlers took four wickets, so I am happy for them,’ Shanto said.

Overall, Shanto was happy with the performance of the team.

He said, ‘Obviously, it feels very good as the team captain. We have played some good cricket batting, and the bowling unit – the way everyone played these Test matches – is really happy, and it will help us in the next match.’

‘But I’m not always thinking about the past or whether we have to plan properly for the next match, and probably the conditions will be different,’ he added.