Bangladesh suffered a crushing defeat by an innings and 78 runs in the second Test against Sri Lanka on the fourth morning to lose the two-Test series 1-0 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo on Saturday.聽
The first Test in Galle ended in a draw.
Trailing by 96 runs, Bangladesh lost their last four wickets inside the first 30 minutes of play as Prabath Jayasuriya took 5-56 after being wicketless in the previous three innings of the series.
Liton Das was his first scalp of the day who nicked one behind in the second over of the day. Jayasuriya took little time to wrap up the Bangladesh innings to complete his 12th five-wicket haul in 22 matches.
After losing six for 115 on the third evening, there was little hope for Bangladesh. This was Bangladesh鈥檚 47th innings defeat, the fourth highest in history, despite playing fewer matches.
Najmul Hossain Shanto, who announced his resignation from captaincy following the defeat, attributed the loss to the team鈥檚 batting weakness in the first innings, in which Bangladesh scored 247 on a batting-friendly wicket.
鈥榁ery disappointing. The way we played in Galle was outstanding, but in this Test it was disappointing, especially with our batting in the first innings. That鈥檚 why we lost,鈥� Shanto told reporters after the defeat.
Bangladesh finished the match with no batter crossing fifty, with the highest score of 46 coming from Shadman Islam in the first innings. This was the 12th such incident for Bangladesh, the first since 2018.
Shanto said that they needed to improve on that.
鈥楥onfidence-wise we were in a good place, but it was a new wicket, new conditions,鈥� he said.
鈥楩our or five batters got to 30-40 and got out, and in Test cricket it鈥檚 hard for the next batter to play a long innings. That鈥檚 something we need to improve.鈥�
Shanto also said that they should have been more consistent in terms of getting results.
He said, 鈥極f course, we can maintain this. If you look at our Test team over the last couple of years, we鈥檝e been winning or drawing overseas. So, compared to before, it鈥檚 better. But there鈥檚 still a lack of consistency.
Wins and losses will always be there, but I think the way we dominated the first Test, we should have played better cricket in this one. There will always be wins and losses, but if we could have dominated a bit more here too, we might have seen clearer signs of improvement,鈥� he added.
The three-match ODI series will commence on July 2 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. After that, the two sides will play a three-match T20 series.