Afghanistan already had three victories in the ongoing showpiece event in India. They still have three games left in the round-robin stage against the Netherlands, Australia, and South Africa.
Afghanistan’s amazing run in the ongoing World Cup 2023 continues as they defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the 30th encounter at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Monday, October 30.
Afghanistan was chasing a substandard total of 242 to win the match when left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka knocked their top opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck in the first over. However, a 73-run stand between Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah lifted the team out of danger and guaranteed a safe passage of play.
Ibrahim appeared to be in fantastic form with the willow in hand, but he fell at an individual score of 39 while performing an upper cut in the 17th over. Madushanka provided the Lankan Lions with their second goal of the game.
The loss of Ibrahim’s wicket didn’t phase Rahmat, who went on to score his second half-century of the tournament. The right-handed batter paced his innings extremely effectively, never allowing the asking rate to exceed a manageable margin.
Rahmat’s dismissal opened the door for the Kusal Mendis-led side to make a comeback, but a defiant and undefeated 111-run partnership between skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and allrounder Azamtullah Omarzai shut it down completely at the end.
Afghanistan had won the toss earlier in the match, so they asked the 1996 World Cup winners to put a total on the scoreboard. Despite the wicket’s apparent placidity and lack of appeal to bowlers, Sri Lankan batsmen were unable to capitalise on the favourable circumstances.
Despite having bright beginnings, none of their top seven hitters were able to truly get going and apply pressure to the Afghanistan bowlers. Top scorer Pathum Nissanka hit 46 from 60 balls, five of which were fours.
Afghanistan’s left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi was impressive when he had the ball in his hands. After dismissing Dimuth Karunaratne, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, and Maheesh Theekshana, he grabbed a four-fer. He bowled a stingy spell, giving up only 34 runs in his ten overs and amassing an impressive economy rate of 3.40.
