Afghanistan registered a comfortable 6-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the 1st ODI between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Batting first, Sri Lanka managed to post only 268 runs as a top-order shake-up with wickets from Afghani bowlers derailed their innings.
Charith Asalanka was the top-scorer for the hosts as he scored 91 runs in 95 runs before being run-out by Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Dhananjaya de Silva scored 51 runs in 59 balls and he was the other batter who notched up a half-century for the island nation.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad were the pick of the bowlers for the visitors as they bagged 2 wickets each. Ahmad had an excellent economy of 5.38 and bowled exceptionally well.
Afghanistan’s batting made the difference
Chasing a modest total of 269 runs, the Afghani batters didn’t have to break a sweat. Ibrahim Zadran was the cynosure of all eyes as he mustered 98 runs and agonizingly fell short of a much-deserved century by 2 runs.
Rahmat Shah scored 55 runs and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi scored a good cameo of 38 runs in 47 balls to steer Afghanistan to a comfortable victory.
In the end, experienced campaigner Mohammad Nabi scored an unbeaten knock of 27* runs and Najibullah Zadran scored 7* runs.
In the bowling department for Sri Lanka, Kasun Rajitha bagged 2 wickets and had a stupendous economy of 4.90. Lahiru Kumara and Matheesha Pathirana bagged 1 wicket each.
Notably, Matheesha Pathirana who had a stellar Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 with Chennai Super Kings (CSK), made his ODI debut in this game. His action resembles the former legendary Sri Lankan bowler, Lasith Malinga.
Sri Lanka will have to play out their batting cards in a better way and come back stronger in the next ODI.
Afghanistan would also be happy with the fact that they batted as per the required run-rate and therefore there was no pressure towards the end of the innings. Keeping the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in mind, all the ODI games become extremely important for all teams.
Since the World Cup will be played in India, the subcontinent conditions in Sri Lanka are a perfect practice opportunity for Afghanistan.
Sri Lanka lock horns with Afghanistan in the 2nd ODI on 4th June 2023. The match will be played at the Mahinda Rajapaksha International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota. It is slated to begin from 10:00 AM (IST) and promises to be an absolute thriller of a contest.
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