After beating the defending champions England and the former Cricket World Cup winners Pakistan, Afghanistan clinched another big win against another former Cricket World Cup champions Sri Lanka at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. It was the first time that Afghanistan recorded two successive wins in the Cricket World Cup.
Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka was an important match at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, which Pune hosted on October 30. Both teams had two wins each in their first five games, as it was the must-win game for them to stay in contention for the Semi-finals battle. At the end of the game, Afghanistan thrashed Sri Lanka by seven wickets with 28 balls remaining.
Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan batters failed to score big runs
Afghanistan chose to field first after winning the toss in the match. While Sri Lankan in-form opener Pathum Nissanka scored 46 runs, skipper Kusal Mendis scored 39 runs, and Sadeera Samarawickrama scored 36 runs. There were also three more 20+ scores (Charith Asalanka 22, Angelo Mathews 23, Maheesh Theekshana 29), but all the Lankan batters failed to capitalise on their starts.
As a result, Sri Lanka were all out for 241 runs in 49.3 overs against the disciplined Afghanistan bowlers. Left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi won the Player of the Match award for his outstanding bowling figures 10-1-34-4. Also, Mujeeb Ur Rahman picked up two wickets (10-1-38-2).
Playing his 100th ODI match, Rashid Khan finished with the bowling figures 10-0-50-1 as his outstanding delivery bowled Dhananjaya de Silva (14). Azmatullah Omarzai once again proved to be a partnership breaker with the bowling figures 7-0-37-1.
Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka: How did Afghan batters chase the target?
In reply, the left-arm Sri Lankan pacer Dilshan Madushanka once again provided a good start by dismissing the Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (0) for a duck on the fourth ball of the second innings. But all the next Afghan batters played solidly to seal a comfortable victory.
While another opener Ibrahim Zadran scored 39 runs, all the next three batters scored 50+ runs. Rahmat Shah scored 62 runs in 74 balls (seven fours), while the skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi scored 58 not out in 74 balls (two fours and only six), and Azmatullah Omarzai fired up with 73 runs in 63 balls (six fours and three sixes).
Afghanistan's second-wicket partnership scored 73 runs (Zadran-Shah), the third-wicket partnership experienced 58 runs (Shah-Shahidi), and the unbroken fourth-wicket partnership celebrated with the 111-run partnership (Shahidi-Omarzai). These solid partnerships helped the Afghan side chase down the target in 45.2 overs after losing three wickets.
Apart from Madushanka’s double scalp (2/48), Kasun Rajitha was the only other Lankan bowler to pick up a wicket in that innings (1/48).
Afghanistan created a new history
At the end of their sixth match, Afghanistan won thrice and lost thrice and collected six points. While every team has played their sixth game in this tournament, Afghanistan are in the fifth position, and Sri Lanka are in the sixth spot with four points in six matches.
After beating the defending champions England by 69 runs, Afghanistan lost against New Zealand (by 149 runs), but beat Pakistan and Sri Lanka in two consecutive matches by eight and seven wickets, respectively. By beating Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Afghanistan first time recorded two successive ODI World Cup victories.
