ICC World Cup 2019: Match 7, Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka – Who Said What

Afghanistan strained every sinew in their match against Sri Lanka at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. However, the Lankans came out trumps eventually by 34 runs (DLS) Method in a game marred by rain. It wasn’t an overly high-scoring affair but kept one and all at the edge of their seats. Even as the Lankans opened their account in the World Cup, the Afghans are still looking for their first victory.

Kusal Perera stands tall

The Afghans didn’t have the greatest of starts by any means after electing to field first. The Lankan openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera put on 92 in 13.1 overs. Kusal played the big strokes while Karunaratne occupied the crease. Mohammad Nabi gave his team the first breakthrough, dismissing Karunaratne, who scored a 45-ball 30. Kusal carried in and notched his fifty off 42 balls.

Lahiru Thirimanne scored 25 after which Nabi accounted for his wicket in the 22nd over. Nabi unfolded more mayhem as in the same over, he sent back the likes of Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva for ducks. Thisara Perera couldn’t make an impact and perished for a couple. In the meantime, from 144/1, Lanka was reduced to 159/6 in a space of 27 balls. Kusal saw all the carnage from the other end.

He went on to score 78 off 81 and it was Rashid Khan, who got rid of the big fish. Isuru Udana tried to smack Dawlat Zadran out of the stadium only to see his stumps go for a walk. Thereafter, rain interrupted play and the game was reduced to 41 overs per side. Lasith Malinga and Suranga Lakmal threw their bats around after the break and Sri Lanka was shot out for an under-par 201 in 36.5 overs.

Pradeep and Malinga bowls brilliantly

Due to the rain delay, the revised target was set at 187 for the Afghans. Mohammad Shahzad and Hazratullah Zazai took on the bowling and put on 34 runs for the first wicket. Zazai went hammer and tongs, but Shahzad couldn’t quite find any rhythm and gave his wicket away to Lasith Malinga. Rahmat Shah had very little clue about a delivery from Isuru Udana and edged one to Thisara in the slip cordon.

Zazai raced his way to 30 runs off 25 with three fours and a six. Unfortunately, Nuwan Pradeep nipped him out. Hashmatullah Shahidi tried hard for 17 balls before falling prey to Pradeep. Mohammad Nabi is one of Afghanistan’s most prolific batsmen and even he couldn’t survive as Thisara got one to jag back and disturbed his timber. Najibullah Zadran joined his captain Gulbadin Naib in the middle.

They added 64 priceless runs in 67 balls to bring the Afghans back into contention. To their dismay, Pradeep trapped Naib in front for 23 to break the partnership. In his next over, he pinned Rashid to pick up his fourth wicket. Najibullah got 43 and a direct hit from Karunaratne led to his dismissal. Hamid Hassan deposited Malinga into the stands once but got out the next ball to end the game.

Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sri Lanka captain, said

We had a good start after a long time but suddenly, we lost a couple of wickets and were on the back foot. That’s the negative part but otherwise, the bowling and fielding were really good. After losing the first game, it’s not easy to keep your mind in a positive way. We have experience in these conditions and that helped. The only thing we need to work on is to improve our batting in the middle overs.

Wickets were the key, if the openers get going, then 187 isn’t easy to defend. Their openers went hard but we knew that it was a matter of a couple of wickets and that pushed them on the back foot. (Whether they believe now after the win) Of course, we do. As I said, batting needs to improve a bit but the bowlers did really well. Need to work on our middle overs batting a bit.

Gulbadin Naib, the Afghanistan captain, said

Start of the day, we didn’t bowl in good areas and lost momentum from there. They got to 100 in no time. At one point, I thought they would get to 300 but Nabi bowled really well. Wicket wasn’t easy for the batters, so I was telling the bowlers to hit the right spots, hit the deck. In the middle overs, Dawlat and Hamid found their lines. Credit goes to them and the other bowlers.

Target wasn’t that tough, especially considering how we have been preparing recently as a chasing side. We need improvement in the batting department, need to learn to stitch small partnerships, especially against such quality bowling. At the start of the day, it was cloudy and I expected it to be the same throughout. We could have batted better, played straighter and watched the ball better.