Kandy (Sri Lanka), May 2 (IANS): Sri Lanka ended the fourth day of the second Test against Bangladesh needing five wickets to win the match and the series. Bangladesh were 177/5 wickets at stumps, 260 runs away from their target.
Spinners Ramesh Mendis and Praveen Jayawickrama were the wicket takers for the hosts. Mendis ended the day with three wickets while Jayawickrama took two. The day ended early with the umpires calling the players off due to bad light.
Sri Lanka earlier declared at 194/9 wickets, with captain Dimuth Karunaratne following up his ton in the first innings with a 78-ball 66. They thus set Bangladesh a target of 437 to chase.
The first Test had ended in a draw.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 493/7 wickets declared & 194/9 wickets declared (Dimuth Karunaratne 66, Dhananjaya de Silva 41; Taijul Islam 5/72); Bangladesh 251 & 177/4 wickets (Mushfiqur Rahim 40, Saif Hassan 34; Ramesh Mendis 3/86)