Sri Lankan Duo Makes History in Sylhet Test
Scorecard: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka
Day three of the first Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Sylhet saw the home team making early inroads, dismissing night watchman Vishwa Fernando for a paltry four runs.
However, the Sri Lankan pair of skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis once again came to the rescue, just as they had in the first innings. Their aggressive batting put Sri Lanka in a commanding position, with the lead soaring past 300 by the 54th over. When their partnership crossed the 150-run mark in the 77th over, it marked only the third instance in Test cricket history where the same pair had achieved two 150-plus stands in the same Test.
Test Cricket’s 150-plus Run Partnerships in Each Innings
| Country | Opposition | Batter 1 | Batter 2 | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | South Africa | Eddie Paynter | Paul Gibb | 1938 |
| Australia | New Zealand | David Warner | Joe Burns | 2015 |
| Sri Lanka | Bangladesh | Dhananjaya de Silva | Kamindu Mendis | 2024 |
The 173-run partnership was finally broken when Dhananjaya de Silva fell to Mehidy Hasan Miraz, caught by Zakir Hasan. By then, Dhananjaya had scored a magnificent 108, following his first innings score of 102. This marked the first instance since 2014 of a Sri Lankan player scoring a century in both innings of a Test. The previous instance was when Kumar Sangakkara scored 319 and 105 against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2014.
#WTC25 #BANvSL pic.twitter.com/uwxOmv0JMb
Furthermore, Dhananjaya and Kamindu became only the third pair in Test cricket history to score centuries in both innings of a Test. The previous two instances were Ian and Greg Chappell for Australia against New Zealand in 1974, and Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali for Pakistan against Australia in 2014.