Mushfiqur, Liton take over before hastened end

Landmark scores from Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque and Najmul Hossain Shanto and an unbeaten fifty-run stand between Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das helped Bangladesh pile up a mammoth score before the second day's play of the first Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ended prematurely due to bad lights at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy today. 

Bangladesh ended the day at 474 for four with Mushfiqur unbeaten on 43 and Liton on 25.  Play will begin 15 minutes early tomorrow in order to make up for the time lost today. 

Before dark clouds over the stadium forced umpires to halt the game due to bad lights just a few overs after Tea, Mushfiqur and Liton strung an unbeaten 50-run stand for the fifth wicket after the dismissals of Mominul and Shanto. 

Earlier, starting the day at 302 for two, both overnight batsmen -- skipper Mominul and Shanto -- looked solid as they negotiated the Lankan bowlers with authority.  

But, with a hint of movement off the deck on offer in the first hour of the Day, the Sri Lankan pacers maintained a relatively better channel than they did in the morning yesterday and induced a few inside and outside edges with a few even beating the outside edges of the bats of Shanto and Mominul. 

However, other than those rare chances, both Mominul and Shanto played the Lankan bowlers with ease and authority, driving on the up and resisting their temptation to play at anything outside their bodies. 

Mominul picked up his 11th Test ton, which was also his first Test century outside the country, while Najmul crossed the 150-run mark as the Tigers went to Lunch unscathed. 

While reaching personal landmark scores, the Najmul-Mominul duo also stitched together a record 242-run third-wicket stand, which now remains Bangladesh's highest partnership for the third wicket in Tests. It is also Bangladesh's third-highest partnership away from home for any wicket.     

Both Najmul (163 off 378) and Mominul (127 off 304) fell prey to Lahiru Kumara and Dhananjaya de Silva respectively in the second session of the game with the Tigers' scoring rate taking a plunge since their dismissal. 

After that, Mushfiqur and Liton started the rebuilding work before overcast conditions forced play to stop.