Herath hails new start
♦ Rangana Herath went past Wasim Akram to become the most prolific left-arm bowler in Test history when he took Bangladesh's last wicket. The left-arm spinner now has 415 wickets off 89 Tests against Akram's 414 in 104 matches.
♦ After scoring a duck on debut, Roshen de Silva became only the fourth batsman in Test history to score four fifty-plus knocks in the first five innings after Australia's Herbie Collins and India's Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammad Azharuddin.
♦ Akila Dananjaya's became only the third Sri Lankan debutant to get a five-wicket haul when the off-spinner took 5-24 in Bangladesh's second innings. His match figures of 8 for 44 are the best match figures by a Sri Lanka bowler on debut.
There was a huge difference between the planning and approach displayed by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on a dry Mirpur surface which expectedly offered a lot of purchase for the spinners.
Despite being the home side, Bangladesh were unable to formulate an effective game plan and batting strategy to negotiate the extra turn from the surface where the batsmen seemed to hurry in their strokes and eventually paid a heavy price.
According to Bangladesh stand-in captain Mahmudullah Riyad, it was the positive intent from the batsmen that they were trying to implement, but his words do not justify the translation of that claimed positive intent into the action of having a go regardless of the situation.
Bangladesh's batsmen however had the example in the form of Roshen Silva who, playing only his third Test, showed what the actual meaning of intent was when he struck fifties in both innings and more importantly, faced 269 deliveries across the two knocks.
"When Roshen was batting, you don't see any danger... when others were batting you could see the danger. But I always ask to just bat on in the same mode -- just according to the situation," veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath told reporters after the series win yesterday when asked about the discussion in the dressing room regarding the batsmen's approach.
"There are two ways to approach, either attacking or defensive. But I expected them [Bangladesh batsmen] to come and have a go, because if you try to stay on that pitch I don't think you will survive," Herath added when asked whether he was surprised to see the approach of the home batsmen in the second innings.
The 39-year-old became the highest Test wicket-taker among left-arm bowlers as he surpassed Wasim Akram's tally of 414 wickets by taking four wickets in the second innings.
"Talking about the achievement, yes of course as a left-arm spinner or as a left-arm bowler, taking 415 Test wickets, just passed Wasim Akram... of course to do it is kind of a big achievement," he said.
Sri Lankan cricket has gone through a tough period since Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara's retirement and the series win over Bangladesh meant a lot for the side in their search for a fresh, new start.
"Not only this one, even when we played in Dubai we won 2-0 against Pakistan. We had a bad series in India. So all in all I feel we have started another journey with the Test team, hopefully we can continue with that," Herath added.
He also praised young debutant Akila Dananjaya who picked up eight wickets in the game including a five-for in the second innings. Herath also mentioned the difference Chandika Hathurusingha – who was Bangldadesh's coach four months ago -- made since joining as the head coach.
"He [Hathurusingha] is always trying to get a good environment and be positive and just face the moment... those are the simple things he asks for," said Herath.