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The fight goes on

BlSHWAJTT Roy
Mohammad Ashraful started with a magnificent cover drive against Muttiah Muralidaran. That, however, hardly indicated anything as he usually does things this way before frustrating all. But there was a distinct change yesterday in the Bangladesh captain's approach that took the first Test against Sri Lanka into the fifth day at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
After Sri Lanka set an improbable 521 run winning target for the Tigers, one could only pray for a respectable defeat but Ashraful, who looked suspect against the swing of Chaminda Vaas at times, made sure that the contest was not over at stumps on the fourth day.
While the other top-order batsmen threw away their wickets, he might have thought that he had been subdued for too long, as the 24-year old haven’t had a half-century in his last 19 innings since scoring an unbeaten 129 against the same opponents at the P Sara in Colombo. It was time to wake up and, why not now when he was facing his favourite opponents against whom he had made three of his four hundreds?
Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan, who appeared before the press at close of play, said Bangladesh have a long way to go and very less chance to win the match but efforts of Ashraful (70) and Shakib Al Hasan (34), who shared 74 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket, kept the home team in the game as Bangladesh finished the day on 254 for five, still 267 runs shy of the target.
It showed their determination and the way the two unde-
fcated batsmen negotiated the last few overs under fading lights.
Ashraful was particularly brilliant after his drivel dismissal in the first innings as he never looked over-cautious or over-ambitious in over two and half hours in the middle and most importantly, the righthander tried Ids best to keep the shots along the ground.
"We think that attack is a better approach than making only defence against Murali," said Tamim Iqbal, who suddenly lost his temper by chas-ing a wide delivery of Dhammika Prasad down the leg side to edge to the gloves of Prasanna Jayawardenc and put and to a well-composed 47-run knock.
But Ashraful played every ball according to the merit and he was perfect while playing strokes through the off-side, particularly against Muralidaran.
The Bangladesh captain's unbeaten 70 saw eleven boundaries and it was a treat to watch the way he completed his eighth half-century. The little man executed two eye-catching boundaries through cover and extra cover off the champion spinner to reach the landmark.
On the other hand, Shakib gave perfect support though he made risky cuts initially before showing rare patience in a bid to end his bad patch.
In the end, it could have been a much belter scorecard for the hosts had the top order not been pathetic after makinggoodstarts.
The wicket still looked good for batting and Bangladesh made a positive start in reply to a towering target before a stupid run out spoiled it. It was Tamim Iqbal who made the mistake by inviting Imrul Kayes for a single after pushing the ball to cover from where Dilshan broke the stumps with
a direct throw.
Zunaed Siddiqui also looked well set but after Tamim s departure, he misjudged Muralidaran to become the first victim of the offie. Zunaed, who made 37, tried to leave the ball that bounced low and kissed the glove on way to first slip where Mahela Jayawardenc took a simple catch.
Rokibul Hasan (24) also concentrated high but had no answer to Murali as a straight delivery on the off-stump saw the right-hander's stumps dislodged. Mehrab Hossain committed a crime when tlie left-hander unnecessarily stepped out to charge Murali and put and end to his 23-run knock. He failed to clear the mid-off fence where substitute fielder Kapugedera took a comfortable catch.
The dismissal was sign of a seemingly early finish of the match on the fourth day but the sixth wicket stand made sure the fight continued. SCOREBdARD Scoreboard at stumps on the fourth day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday: SRI LANKA: First innings 293 (Samarweera 90, Shakib 5-70) BANG1ADESH: First innings 178 (Kayes 33, Muralidaran 6-49)
SRI LANKA: Second innings Vandort b Mashrafe 6 WarnapuralbwbMahbubul 8 Sangakkara c MushGqur b Mehrab 67
MJayawardenec Zunaed b Mehrab 166
Samaraweerab Mashrafe 62
Dilshan cMushfiqurb Shakib 47
PJayawardenenotout 3
Vaasnotout 15
Extras: (b-16, lb-5,nb-8.w-2) 31
Total: (Forsixwktsdccl in 108 overs) 405 Did not bat: Prasad, Herath, Muralidaran.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-18. 3-153,4-291,5-386,6-388.
Bowler O M R W
Mashrafe 21 4 59 2
Mahbubul 17 1 62 1
Shakib 40 10 134 1
Shahadat 14 1 66 0
Mehrab 10 0 37 2
Rokibul 10 2 0
Ashraful 5 0 24 0
BANGLADESH: Second innings
Tamim cPJayawardeneb Prasad 47
Imrulrunout 13
Zunaed c M Jayawardene b Muralidaran 37
Rokibul b Muralidaran 24
Ashraful not out 70
Mehrab c sub (Kapugedera) b Muralidaran 23
Shakib not out 34
Extras: (lb-2, nb-4) 6
Total: (Forfivewkts in 78 overs) 254
To bat Mushfiqur, Mashrafe, Shahadat, Mahbubul.
Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-72, 3-124,4-144,5-180.
Bowler O M R W
Vaas 16 5 39 0
Prasad 13 2 68 1
Muralidaran 28 7 85 3
Herath 21 4 60 0