MOMENTS

Seven wicketkeepers

If you think wicketkeeping is an issue in Bangladesh with Mushfiqur Rahim giving up the gloves to Liton Das for this tour, have a gander at Sri Lanka. When Liton joined Mushfiqur at the crease yesterday, there were a total of seven keepers on the field. Dimuth Karunaratne has a first-class stumping, Upul Tharanga, Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal have kept at first-class level and Niroshan Dickwella is the regular keeper. Dickwella must be an insecure keeper, given the competition right in front of his eyes.

The situation may also explain the daft stroke Liton played to get out; maybe having more than six keepers on the field for a length of time causes a rip in the space-time fabric. Or maybe that is what brought on the rain, in which case Liton should have batted longer for Bangladesh's sake.

The fall of the warrior monk

Mushfiqur Rahim batted with monk-like abstinence for the first half of the innings, before he became warrior after conquering the elements. But what was controlled aggression soon became a shootout against overwhelming odds after his teammates displayed neither his austerity nor appetite for war. Left with Subashis Roy, Mushfiqur hit one boundary and attempted to farm the strike. But with the wily Rangana Herath operating and a cover boundary unmanned, Mushfiqur tried one blow too many as the arm-ball sneaked through to bring an end to the warrior monk's vigil.

A needless return and a freak catch

With bad light under the formidable clouds causing a premature tea to be taken, Bangladesh with one wicket left must have been thinking of reducing the deficit as much as possible. 20 minutes passed after tea before Mustafizur Rahman and Subashis strode out. Mustafizur knocked the first ball to the off side and off the second, flicked hard to the on side. But while eyes wandered to the boundary, the Lankans were celebrating. The ball had stuck in the arms of an evading Kusal Mendis at short leg. 10 minutes for the change of innings followed, then bad light ended the day. Bangladesh may as well have declared at tea and saved face.