Afg vs Sl ; Afghanistan registers its second win in a row

In the 2023 World Cup's 30th ODI held today on 30 October, Afghanistan secured a comfortable 7-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, at Pune's MCA Stadium.

While chasing a target of 242, Afghanistan managed to score 242/3 in 45.2 overs. Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (58*) and Azmatullah Omarzai (73*) were the key players leading Afghanistan to dominate and win the match by 7 wickets with 28 balls to spare.

Although Afghanistan lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck in the very first over, later Rahmat Shah at number 3 made 62 runs in 74 balls, contributing significantly in the win.

Fazalhaq Farooqi was the most successful bowler for Afghanistan with figures of 4/34, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2/38), Azmatullah Omarzai (1/37), and Rashid Khan (1/50) also contributed.

Afghanistan, after winning the toss, chose to bowl first, Sri Lanka managed to give a target of only 242 runs to Afghanistan, even though the pitch had favourable conditions for batting.

PC: X

Dimuth Karunaratne returned to the Sri Lankan lineup as the opening batsman, taking the place of Kusal Perera. However, he was dismissed early, falling to Fazalhaq Farooqi in only the second delivery of the sixth over. Sri Lanka managed to stabilise their innings through Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka. Unfortunately, Nissanka was dismissed just four runs short of his 50 despite their partnership of 62 runs off 77 balls for the second wicket.

Mujeeb ur Rahman made a significant impact when he returned to the bowling attack after the 25th over. He managed to pick up crucial wickets, including those of Kusal Mendis and the in-form Sadeera Samarawickrama in consecutive overs, which left Sri Lanka in a precarious position. Rashid Khan also played his part by dismissing Dhananjaya de Silva, which brought the experienced Angelo Mathews to the crease.

In the last 10 overs of their innings, Sri Lanka saw some acceleration, thanks to Maheesh Theekshana, who struck a few powerful shots. However, Theekshana was eventually dismissed after scoring 29 runs from 31 balls. Angelo Mathews also contributed with a 23-run innings from 26 balls, but Sri Lanka finished their innings with a total of 241.

Maheesh Theekshana (29) and Angelo Mathews (23) added a valuable 45 runs for the eighth wicket, providing late momentum to Sri Lanka. Pathum Nissanka's impressive run of successive fifties in the World Cup ended when he was dismissed for 46, marking his fifth half-century in six matches this tournament.

After the match, Afghanistan in the points table is at the 5th position with 6 points and Sri Lanka currently occupies the 6th spot on the points table with 4 points. However both have very limited chances of making it to the tournament's semi-finals.