ICC World Cup 2019
Match 7 - Afghanistan Vs Srilanka
Lankans used Afghans weak batting lineup
Six matches over in this world cup till now. Surprisingly none of the matches were not affected due to rain. But today it happened, the effect of rain made to reduce overs to 41 overs each side. It was the seventh match of the tournament between the ex champions Sri lanka and the new entry Afghanistan. Both teams faced each other many times including the Asia Cup. Both teams were already lost their first match and eagerly waiting to open the points. Were Sri lanka lost worse than Afghanistan in their first match. Both teams were not good at batting, but a bit better in bowling department. So this match was expected as low scoring games may be between 200-250 runs. The prediction doesnt fail.
Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib won the toss and decided to field first. Sri lanka open the bat with Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera. Last match opener Thirimanne was moved to no 3 to build innings. Not as like previous match Sri lanka opened well, especially Perera played beautiful knock. Skipper Dimuth gone as first wicket with 30 runs when the team score was 92 runs at 13.1 overs. Lahiru Thirimanne also played decently and scored 25 runs, he lost to stumps to Mohammed Nabi. In the same over Nabi strikes twice again. Nabi sent both Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews to pavilion. He took 3 wickets in that over itself. In the next over itself De silva lost his wicekt to Hamid Hasan. Once Sri lanka were 144-1 but within two overs they became 149-5. Thisara Perera run out unfortunately. Isuru Udana scored a six but didnt sustain, he lost his wicket while trying for another big shot. Opener Kusal Perera scored his half century and gone as 8th wicket for 78 runs from 81 balls with 8 boundaries. That time rain came and stopped the play for nearly two hours. Laters umpires decided to resume the game and the overs was reduced as 41 overs each side. But Sri lanka lost all their wickets in 37th over itslef. Sri lanka scored 201 overs. Mohammed Nabi took 4 wickets for 30 runs from 9 overs with 33 dot balls. Its almost 65% balls he bowled as dot. Rashid Khan and Zadran took 2 wickets each.
Sri lanka didnt complete the 41 overs that also included while calculating DL method and Afghanistan target reset as 187 runs from 41 overs. Afghans started the chase with Shahzad and Zazai. Opener shahzad was taken by malinga with only 7 runs. Rahmat Shah, Shahidi and Nabi also left the team with cheap runs. Opener Zazai scored 30 runs from 25 balls and went pavilion. Afghanistan lost their first 5 wickets for just 57 runs. Then Skipper Gulabdin Naib and Najibulla Zadran made another wonderful partnership as they did against Australia. Both played with care and the partneship slowly increasing crossed 50 runs too. Then Pradeep made a twist by taking Naib for lbw. Now Afghanistan were 122 for 6 wickets. This 6th wicket partnership alone scored 65 runs. Najibulla played some brilliant knock of 43 runs. Unfortunately he got run out. That made the game away from Afghan. Lasith Malinga take care of the tail enders. He bowled both Dawlat and Hamid. Malinga put an end to Afghan chase at 33rd over itself. Afghanistan scored only 152 runs and lost the match by 34 runs.
Man of the Match: Nuwan Pradeep
Nuwan Pradeep was awarded as man of the match for his 4 wicket haul from 9 overs. He conceded 31 runs with 3.44 economy. He picked three important game changing wickets like Zazai, Shahidi and Naib. Lasith Malinga picked 3 wickets and Isura, Thisara with 1 each. Some how Sri lanka used the weak batting line up of Afghanistan and win the match. Afghans missed their first ever chance of winning against big team in world cup. They already beat scotland in 2015 world cup group stage. Still they didnt open their account in 2019 WC. Tmrw two big matches gonna happen. One between India and South Africa both team aims for their first win. While in other match New Zealand gonna face the Nagins Bangladesh, both team aiming for their second victory. Anyone of one will face their first defeat too.
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