Muralitharan has an awesome record against Bangladesh in Tests

Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan came to the fore on day two of the first Test as Bangladesh relinquished the strong position they had reached on day one.

From a rocky overnight 172-6, Sri Lanka got up to 293 in Mirpur thanks to Thilan Samaraweera (90) and Chaminda Vaas (37), who put on 99 together.

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan took 5-70 with his left-arm spin.

Muralitharan (5-48) kept his excellent record against the Tigers as the hosts slid to 177-9 at stumps on Saturday.

He now has 81 Bangladesh wickets from just 10 matches against Test cricket's weakest side. With 761 Test wickets in all, this was his 66th five-wicket haul in Tests.

His impact was certainly required with fellow spinner Ajantha Mendis injured and Bangladesh making a decent fist of surviving the new ball.

Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes had put on 44 for the first wicket when Muralitharan struck for the first time.

Wickets fell regularly from that point, though it would have been depressing for Bangladesh fans to see all top seven batsmen reach double figures with none going on to register a half-century.

The best effort was from Kayes, who hit six fours in his 33 before edging a short-pitched delivery from Vaas to wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene.

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