Bangladesh lost 15 wickets to pace in the opening Test.

Just as they did in the first innings, Bangladesh's batters ended up falling flat against Sri Lanka's pace unit. The trio of Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha had picked up all ten wickets in the first innings, exposing the hosts' weaknesses.

In the second innings, the pattern continued as Fernando picked up three while Kumara and Rajitha picked one apiece to reduce Bangladesh to 47-5 in a chase of 511.

"Probably we are playing the ball that we can leave easily and that is why we are getting out and our players need to work individually to develop in Test cricket," opined Mehidy Hasan at the end of a frustrating day for the hosts.

"I think the individual player can say what he is going through and what he was thinking in that moment. I think it is tough to bat at the end of the day and certainly we have to take the challenge as we are professional players. It is disappointing the way we got out and what I can say we have to play well," he added.

The all-rounder also felt that the preparation for the longest format was not as well as it could have been.

"I think we could not prepare well because we play T20s and later ODIs and after two days break we came to play Test and it could be the reason behind our downfall," felt Mehidy.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan batting coach Thilina Kandamby credited the fast bowlers for their effort.

"We had small plans but we never thought we'd have a lead of nearly 500 runs. We first targeted a lead of around 300, because we felt that would put us in a good position to win," said Kandamby

"A lot of credit needs to go to the fast bowlers, we've taken 15 wickets and all 15 have been by the seamers," he said adding that centuries by Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis in both the innings set the tone for them.

Captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis, the duo who scored centuries in the first innings, reached triple figures respectively to help Sri Lanka post a huge total on the board and in the process achieved the record of hitting centuries in both innings of a Test.

Kamindu hammered 164 while De Silva scored 108 and the duo put on 173 runs for the sixth wicket to put Sri Lanka in firm position as the visitors compiled 418 in its second innings to extend its overall lead to 510.

"I know both of them would have played without any records on their mind but at the moment we needed it most in both innings - I have watched a lot of cricket - these were some of best centuries I've seen," he concluded.