Sri Lanka, who are playing their first innings against the visiting Bangladesh team, were in a strong position at the end of the third day today (19) at 368 for 4.
Accordingly, Sri Lanka are only 127 runs behind the 495 scored by Bangladesh in the first innings.
At the end of the match, Kamindu Mendis, who was left at the crease, was on 37 runs and captain Dhananjaya de Silva was on 17 runs.
Pathum Nissanka took all the credit for building the Sri Lankan innings today.
Pathum, who played the highest innings of his Test cricket career, was unfortunately dismissed while 13 runs short of a double century.
He had scored 187 runs off 256 balls when he left the field, which included a six and 23 fours.
Pathum had previously played his highest innings of his Test career against England.
He had scored 127 not out in the match held at the Oval in 2024.
In addition to Pathum, Dinesh Chanmal scored 54 runs, while Angelo Mathews, who is playing his last Test match, was dismissed for 39 runs.