Liton, Mushfiqur script Bangladesh’s memorable comeback

Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim stunned Sri Lanka, putting on a record partnership after a sensational collapse that saw Bangladesh slump to 24-5 in the first half-an-hour of the opening day of the second and final cricket Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Monday.

They kept them unscathed throughout the day after that horrible 30 minutes to lift Bangladesh to 277-5 at stumps. Liton Das was batting on 135 with Mushfiqur Rahim on 115, sharing a record 253-run in an unbroken sixth wicket stand.

They made a highest partnership for sixth wicket or lower after losing the first five wickets for 25 runs or less, breaking the record of Wallis Mathias and Shujauddin, who added 86 after their team West Indies lost first wicket for 22 runs against Pakistan in Dhaka in 1959.

They also put on highest partnership for Bangladesh in sixth wicket, eclipsing 191 by Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim against Sri Lanka in Colombo 2007, BSS reports.

After that manic 30 minutes, Sri Lanka could create only one chance throughout the day when Liton pulled Asitha Fernando lazily at backward square leg, which Kusal Mendis’s substitute Kamindu Mendia failed to hold on.

Kusal Mendis left the ground earlier because of the chest pains.

Liton then got his pull right to hit Fernado a boundary through the same region to raise his fifty off 96 balls. He then needed just 53 balls to complete his next fifty to reach his third century off 149 balls.

Mushfiqur who became the first Bangladeshi batter to reach 5000 runs last week, was more restrained.

He brought up his fifty off 112 balls, also through a boundary from left-arm spinner Praveen Jaywawickrama’s delivery.