Gritty Ebadot earns Donalds's praise

Dhaka, 25 May -When the flat pitch offered nothing for the pacers, 

Ebadot Hossain created some chance and cracked the game open for Bangladesh, 
something which denied Sri Lanka taking complete control of the second Test.

Alongside Shakib Al Hasan, he operated tirelessly against a stubborn Sri Lanka batting line up to leave the game in the balance as Sri Lanka ended day three of the second Test at 282-5, trailing by 83 runs. Bangladesh were dismissed for 365 in their first innings.

While Shakib ended the day with 3-59, Ebadot had figures of 2-78, which hardly revealed the effort he put in the rain-hit day.

"Ebadot and Khaled are busy learning their trade. We are constantly busy with other factors in terms of mindset and alignment. I thought today Ebadot was fantastic. I thought he ran in all day long. I told him after tea to nicely ask for the ball. He did that again, and caused problems," Donald said. 

"We, in SA and here, have not asked enough questions with the new ball. We are working on that attitude and skill. We are maybe slightly apprehensive, whereas the SL guys were spot on in execution."

Donald also said that the scoreboard couldn't reveal how good Ebadot was in the flat deck. 

"Ebadot was outstanding today. You know when you see someone in the warm-up, and you know something about him will click today. Scoreboard doesn't reflect the way he bowled today," he remarked. 

The former South African pace bowling legend said Ebadot could have easily walked away with four or five wickets today given the way he bowled throughout the day. 
 
At the same time, he was disappointed that another pacer Syed Khaled Ahmed couldn't execute the plan properly. But he hoped Khaled will comeback  strongly on day four.

"He (Ebadot) could have walked away with four or five wickets. That's what  the spell was worth. Khaled hasn't really got it quite right, but tomorrow is a massive day. We need some early poles in the morning. The pitch too gives us a bit to work with every morning.