SL vs AFG (3rd ODI) – Highlights
Sri Lanka needed 68 runs off the last 36 balls. However, Charith Asalanka was hopeful to get that desired amount of runs. Along with Dunith Wellalage, he offered Sri Lanka an essential victory in the World Cup Super League.
Asalanka’s unbeaten innings of 83 off 72 balls and Wellalage’s 21-ball 31 runs helped Sri Lanka reach the target of 314 runs set by Afghanistan with 2 balls to spare. Ibrahim Zadran’s record 162 runs innings, and Rashid Khan’s excellent bowling of 4 wickets for 37 runs has got faded with this. The 3-match ODI series has been drawn 1-1.
Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka’s opening partnership of 101 runs gave Sri Lanka a solid foundation. Nissanka scored 35 runs off 55 balls, but Mendis scored 67 runs off just 61 balls. However, the Lankans lost De Silva (5) after the departure of Mendis and Nissanka by 15 runs. After Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi brought the Afghans back into the match.
Asalanka did the first task of rebuilding the hosts with Dinesh Chandimal in a pair of 48 runs from 48 balls. Nabi broke the pair by returning Chandimal who scored 33 runs off 32 balls. Asalanka then scored 79 runs off 68 balls with Dasun Shanaka. Rashid bowled Shanaka, who scored 43 runs off 44 balls, and gave the Afghans a breakthrough again. The leg-spinner took his fourth wicket in the next over, sending Wanindu Hasaranga (2) back.
In the very next over, Asalanka attacked Mujeeb Ur Rahman, he smashed 2 sixes. Rashid was brought back into the attack by Afghan captain Hashmatullah in the 47th over, and Rashid gave only 3 runs in that over. Sri Lanka needed 37 runs off the last 18 balls. Dunith Wellalage hit a four off the last ball of the 48th over, 29 was needed off 12 balls for the hosts then.
Wellalage hit three fours in the 49th over off Gulbadin Naib. He hit Fazalhaq Farooqi for a six off the first ball of the last over and ended the match with a six off the fourth ball. Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets with 2 balls left in the innings. Apart from Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi took 2 wickets for Afghanistan.
Earlier, Afghanistan had a bad start in batting after winning the toss. They lost 3 wickets for 57 runs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (5) pulled Kasun Rajitha’s ball on the stumps in the third over, and Rahmat Shah (22) became Rajitha’s second victim in the 12th over. A little later, captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (4) was LBW by Dhananjaya de Silva.
Then Ibrahim Zadran and Najibullah Zadran made a great pair of 154 runs. This is Afghanistan’s highest by any wicket against Sri Lanka, and the fourth-highest against any team also. In the 38th over, Wanindu Hasaranga sent back Najibullah, who scored 77 runs off 76 balls. Ibrahim, however, got out in the last ball of the innings.
Ibrahim scored fifty off 64 balls, it took 100 balls to score a century. This is his third century in his 8-match career. Ibrahim needed only 32 balls to make his next fifty. He played a magnificent innings of 162 off 138 balls, with 15 fours and 4 sixes, before being caught off the last ball. This is the highest innings by any Afghan batsman in ODIs.
In the end, Afghanistan collected a big score of 313 runs, losing 8 wickets in the allotted 50 overs. Kasun Rajitha took the highest number of 3 wickets in Sri Lanka’s win. Besides, Wanindu Hasaranga took 2 wickets, and Dhananjaya de Silva and Asitha Fernando took 1 wicket each.
Charith Asalanka was adjudged Player of the Match for playing his match-winning innings. Ibrahim Zadran was adjudged Player of the Series for scoring brilliant two centuries in this series.
SL vs AFG Scoreboard
Afghanistan – 313/8 (50.0)
Sri Lanka – 314/6 (49.4)
Result – Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets
Player of the match – Charith Asalanka
Player of the series – Ibrahim Zadran
SL vs AFG Playing XIs
| SL | Dasun Shanaka (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dunith Wellalage, Asitha Fernando, Maheesh Theekshana, and Kasun Rajitha. |
| AFG | Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Ibrahim Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Noor Ahmad. |