PUNE – In the 31st match of the ICC World Cup 2023, Afghanistan continued their incredible momentum and defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in a convincing run chase on Monday at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, India.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, Hashmatullah Shahidi’s team won two World Cup matches in a row. Prior to this year’s major event, they had only won once in 2015 and 2019.
Like in their previous match win against Pakistan, when they took down 282 with eight wickets remaining, the Afghans shown incredible calm and refrained from taking risky or careless drives.
Afghanistan’s successful run chase was largely due to Rahmat Shah, a right-handed batsman who scored 62 runs off 74 balls with seven fours.
Following Shah’s removal by Kasun Rajitha, Azmatullah Omarzi and captain Shahidi partnered for 111 runs to win the match, leading their team to a significant victory.
Omarzai and Shahidi contributed 72 runs and 58 runs, respectively, to help their team reach the 242 run goal in 45.2 overs.
Afghanistan’s bowlers caused problems for Sri Lanka’s batting order during the first innings, as none of the hitters could muster a significant score except for Pathum Nissanka, who amassed 46 runs.
Opener Pathum Nissanka tried to take a strong start but he got little support from his opener partner Dimuth Karunaratne dismissed for 15 runs.
Kusal Mendis (39) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (36) made an effort for a healthy partnership but Mujeebur Rahman sent them to pavilion. Maheesh Theekshana from tail order made 29 runs in a bid to raise the total.
Fazal Farooqi claimed a four-wicket haul while Rahman got two wickets and Azmat Omarzai and Rashid Khan took one wicket each.
Earlier, Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bowl first against injury-hit Sri Lanka.
Asian sides are coming in today’s clash with thin chances of advancing to the semi-finals of the ICC leading tournament with just 4 points each from their 5 games.
Sri Lanka currently placed 5th on the points table with better run rate, and Afghanistan sit just below them at 6th spot.
Lankan Lion and Afghanistan bounced back into the CWC 23 with major victories, as Afghanistan stunned Men in Green and Sri Lanka made it two on the trot with win over struggling England.
If we look back, Sri Lanka hold strong recent record against Afghanistan, bagging their last three games in the ODI.
Squads
Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq
Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis (c), Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka, Angelo Mathews, Dushmantha Chameera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushan Hemantha, Chamika Karunaratne
