Galle becomes Bangladesh's happy place again as top-order finds form

A batting collapse hastened Bangladesh's first innings towards its end in the Galle Test but the visitors will be more than happy to take 484 for 9 to start their new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

Bangladesh are trying to get out of a long batting slump, so runs from three of their main batters were a welcome sight. Their top six averaged only 24.38 during the 2023-25 WTC cycle, contributing heavily to the team's indifferent form in the last two years. In a marked improvement, in the first Test of the new cycle, Bangladesh's top six added 444 of the 484 runs at the end of day two. This was only the third time in the last five years that the top six have scored more than 400 runs in a Test innings.

A particular gripe of Bangladesh has been the quality of pitches back home, where they often play on raging turners in Dhaka. Faced with entirely different conditions in Galle, the batters filled their boots in much the same way as they did in 2013. Galle provided Bangladesh their highest total in Test cricket as they put up 638 on the back of Mushfiqur Rahim's double-century.

Twelve years later, Galle has proven to be Bangladesh's happy hunting ground again. Mushfiqur once again led the charge with 163, his seventh 150-plus score in Tests. The century helped him get over a form slump since the Pakistan tour in August last year. Litton Das too struck his first half-century in any format since that tour. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto broke an even longer duck when he got a century for the first time since November 2023.

Shanto was quite attacking on the first morning, hitting the ball well down the ground. He focused on playing straight, but also employed the sweep whenever the opportunity was right. The Sri Lankan spinners asked him to play the shot, with two fielders behind square on the leg side, and he resisted. When that gap opened up, he unleashed. It was a sign of his maturity.

What pleased the Bangladesh team management was the fight shown by Shanto, who was playing with an injured finger. He hurt himself during fielding drills on the eve of the Test, but Mohammad Salahuddin, the team's assistant coach, said that Shanto shrugged off the pain.

"He did play with a swollen finger, but Shanto is a tough guy, " Salahuddin said. "I don't think a lot of people would be able to keep their wits about themselves despite going through so much trolling [during his lean run of form]. He is a mentally tough character as a leader, and that helps the rest of the team."

After Shanto and Mushfiqur added 264 runs for the fourth wicket, Bangladesh's second-highest fourth-wicket partnership, Mushfiqur and Litton put on 149 for the fifth wicket. Litton pressed on the accelerator during his 90 off 123 balls, especially after Pathum Nissanka put down a catch when he was on 14. Litton kept the spinners at bay with his square-cuts and dabs, often finding a boundary with Mushfiqur consolidating at the other end.

"Litton batted with much control. He batted calmly," Salahuddin said. "I think it was his only bad shot in the game [his dismissal to a reverse sweep]. It can happen in cricket. He can learn from this and play bigger innings. I think he will not repeat the mistake again."

Bangladesh's team management is meanwhile looking to shake off the late batting collapse, as they hope the bowlers can take advantage of an already decent score. "We batted really well in the first two sessions. We could have done better later. We still have a pretty good total. Maybe tomorrow, if we can bowl well, we can actually control the game," Salahuddin said. "Our batting could have been a little better in the last session. I still think we have enough runs on the board. If we bowl well, I think we can control the game. We played some bad shots, which is why we lost some wickets."

Bangladesh lost five wickets for 26 runs at the end of the second day, having earlier slipped to 45 for 3 in the first hour on day one. In between, Mushfiqur, Shanto and Litton have given them a lifeline to get over a long batting downturn. Mushfiqur is heading towards his 100th Test later this year, so he will keep going, but for Shanto and Litton, their scores couldn't have arrived at a more perfect time.