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Tuesday, June 4, 2019

2019 ICC World Cup in England & Wales May 30 to July 14,2019 - Match 07 Afghanistan Vs Sri Lanka @Sophia Gardens,Cardiff Tuesday June 04, 2019

Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by 34 in rain affected game

Scorecard

Sri Lanka      201/10 in 36.5 Overs
Dimuth Karunaratne 30(45 Balls x3)
Kusal Perera 78(81 Balls 4x8)
Mohammad Nabi  4/30( 9 Overs)

Afghanistan  152/10 in 32.4 Overs (Target 187 Runs in 41 Over under DLS
Hazratullah Zazai   30( 25 Balls 4x3 and 6x1)
Najubullah Zadran  43(56Balss 4x6)
Match Result Sri Lanka won by 34 Runs
MOM - Nuwan (SL) for his 4/31(9 Overs)


Put in to bat first, Kusal Perera (78) and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne (30) provided an initial thrust to Sri Lanka by sharing a 92-run stand for the opening wicket. However, the Sri Lankan players failed to build partnership after the duo's departure and collapsed to180/8 in 33 overs before rain played the spoilsport and interrupted the play.

After the play resumed and revised to 41 overs per side, Sri Lanka only managed to survive for three overs before being bundled out for 201.

Averting what could have been an another upset in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Sri Lankan bowlers stepped up to salvage pride for their team as they succeeded in wrapping up minnows Afghanistan for 152 runs in 32.4 overs to set up a 34-run victory in the rain-affected clash at the Sophia Gardens here on Tuesday.

Nuwan Pradeep (4/34) and Lasith Malinga (3/39) rose to the occasion, helping Sri Lnka defend a revised meagre 187-run target in the given 41 overs. Apart for them, Isuru Udana and Thisara Perera picked a wicket apiece.

Chasing the revised target based on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, Mohammad Shahzad (7) and Hazratullah Zazai (30) started cautiously with their score looking decent at 29 for no loss in first four overs before Malinga packed back the former four balls later

Afghanistan then underwent a story similar to their opponents as they lost four wickets in another 23 runs. Rahmat Shah (2), Zazai, Hashmatullah Shahidi (4) and Mohammad Nabi (4) departed in quick succession and it seemed Sri Lanka would bundle out the dark horses quickly.

The story, however, had a turn as Gulbadin Naib (23) and Najibullah Zadran (43) denied the Sri Lankan bowlers making any further inroads. Besides keeping the score ticking, the duo also steered their side past the 100-run mark in 21.1 overs, keeping Afghanistan's hopes alive.

They added another 21 runs together before Pradeep accounted for Gulbadin in the 25th over. While Najibullah gave his best to help his side cross the line, he lacked support from the lower middle-order as the Sri Lankan bowlers picked Rashid Khan (2), Dawlat Zadran (6) and Hamid Hassan (6) cheaply

While trying to pick a single, Najibullah also fell short of the crease as Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne hit the stumps directly to end Afghanistan's dream of creating an another upset when they were at 145/9

Malinga then performed the last rites after sending back Hassan in just the next over.

Match Highlights

# During the clash, third-drop Lahiru Thirimanne scored 34-ball 25 runs. En route to his knock, the Sri Lankan batsman became the third fastest player of the country to reach the 3000-run mark in ODIs. He achieved the milesin his 100 innings, thus surpassing former Sri Lankan cricketers Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in the list.

# Kusal Perera struck a 78-run knock, laced with eight boundaries, during the match. It was his 12 half-century in ODIs which he brought off just 42 balls.

# By defeating Afghanistan at Sophia Gardens, Lasith Malinga won his first-ever ODI in a Sri Lanka shirt since his side's victory over Zimbabwe on July 6, 2017.

Sri Lanka's 34-run win over the Gulbadin Naib's side was their first in the ongoing edition of the 2019 World Cup. They lost their opening match by 10 wickets at the hands of New Zealand at the same venue.

# The victory saw Sri Lanka surge to the sixth spot in the eight-team point table, while Afghanistan are standing just one point ahead of last-placed South Africa due to better run-rate.

Sri Lanka will now take on Pakistan on June 7 while Afghanistan will take on New Zealand a day later in their next World Cup 2019 clash.





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