GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — A career-best 187 by the stylish Pathum Nissanka led Sri Lanka to 368-4 in its first innings on the third day of the opening test against Bangladesh on Thursday.
That left the home team 127 runs adrift of Bangladesh, which had piled up a total of 495 all out.

On a featherbed surface, Nissanka produced an innings of sublime timing and poise, the sort that makes connoisseurs purr and opponents wince.

Nissanka, whose two previous test hundreds had come overseas, finally notched his maiden century on home soil.

A double hundred looked not just probable, but inevitable. Alas, as it so often does in cricket, the second new ball brought about his downfall.

A touch too eager to assert, Nissanka offered a drive too early, left a gap between bat and pad, and was clean bowled by Hasan Mahmud.

“I was disappointed with the way I got out,” Nissanka said. "I knew I had to see off the new ball. I thought the shot was on, but it was a good piece of bowling as well.

"We have been conscious about the run rate. We knew we were not scoring too quickly in the last cycle of the World Test Championship. That is one of the things we wanted to address.

“I hope we have done that sufficiently in this test match, and we look to keep doing that moving forward.”

Debutant Lahiru Udara, also looking assured during a brisk 29 off 34 balls, peppered the boundary with six well-timed fours before offering a return catch to Taijul Islam off a leading edge.