'It's an even contest now'

There is a reason why Rangana Herath is known as the 'wily old fox' in the Sri Lanka dressing room, and it is not just about being a 39-year-old cricketer.

On the first day on Wednesday, the left-arm spinner was taken to the cleaners by Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim to the tune of 100 runs in 20 wicketless overs, but yesterday he used whatever assistance the second-day pitch had to offer and extracted three wickets, including the early one of Mominul, for the addition of 50 runs in 17 overs.

His three wickets helped limit Bangladesh to 513 all out from an overnight score of 374 for four, and he thought that Sri Lanka's response with Dhananjaya de Silva hitting a century and constructing an unbeaten 187-run second-wicket stand with Kusal Mendis put both teams on an even keel at the end of the second day.

"It looks like an even contest now," he said after Sri Lanka ended the day on 187 for one, with opener Dimuth Karunaratne the only wicket to fall before his team could get off the mark.

The pitch at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium has been a source of speculation as unlike the last two matches here -- the Test against Australia in 2017 and against England the year before – the pitch has offered scant assistance to the slower bowlers.

"I still see it as a batsman-friendly wicket. They made 500-plus and we are 180 [187] for one," Herath said. "We first need to score the 300 runs we are behind. Then after that, we can see what kind of surface it becomes. From there we can decide which direction we can go.

"There's something for the spinners from the third day onwards. I could see some turn even after tea today."