DHAKA, March 22, 2024 (BSS)—Bangladesh’s fast bowling coach Andre Adams was delighted at his young pace attack as they showed a much-needed discipline to trouble Sri Lanka batters on day one of the two-match series opening cricket test today at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

The pace attack comprised with Shoriful Islam, Syed Khaled Ahmed and debutant Nahid Rana picked up seven wickets amongst them to play a vital role in helping the side bundle Sri Lanka out for just 280 runs in its first innings. Bangladesh batters however squandered the chance to establish the dominance further by being reduced to 32-3 at stumps.

Khaled (3-72) ripped through the top order before Rana, whose 3-87 on debut included the wickets of centurions Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis, caused a middle order havoc.

“He (Rana) is talented. He is fast. He bowled almost every ball at 145kph. He has a beautiful action. He is just so raw. He has a lot to learn but he is very talented,” Andre Adams said of Rana.

“This is a pretty young bowling attack. Shoriful was good in parts. I thought Rana and Khaled bowled well together. We created several chances in the first session, which was exceptional. Especially when you think that there was only ten overs of real pressure with the ball. Some great fielding and good catching. Disappointing that we didn’t grab two chances, which really could have spun the Test match. You have control if you take seven wickets at lunch,” he said.

Thanks to Khaled’s fiery work, Bangladesh reduced Sri Lanka to 57-5 at lunch but de Silva and Kamindu shared 202-run for the sixth wicket partnership to take the baton.

As they appeared set to take the complete stranglehold, Rana dealt double blow, dismissing both of the centurions and eventually denied the visitors a big total.

As Bangladesh were left at 32-2 on day one, Adams think still it is possible to take the lead given the fact that the wicket has no demons.

“We have to wait and see how we bat. I think they got too many when we had them five down. It is a good surface. There are no demons. There’s a bit of bounce and carry. We have to be much better with the bat. It is certainly not a scenario that the deck will decide the game, but how we play," he added.