Afghanistan defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the 30th match of ICC World Cup 2023.
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and invited Sri Lankan captain Kaushal Mendis to bat first.
Sri Lanka’s opening batsmen Patham Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne could not give their team a good start against the Afghanistan bowlers. In the fifth over, Dimuth Karunaratne returned to the pavilion after scoring 15 runs off Fazal Haq Farooqi, after which Patham Nissanka was dismissed for 46 runs off 60 balls.
Sri Lanka’s third wicket then went to Mujeebur Rahman as he guided skipper Kaushal Mendis back for 39 runs, after which Mujeeb himself caught Sudira Samarawakarma LBW for just four runs. Cherith Asalinka played an innings of 22 runs and Angelo Mathews played an innings of 23 runs.
The Sri Lankan team was bowled out for 241 runs in 49.3 overs.
On behalf of Afghanistan, Mujeebur Rehman dismissed two players while Fazal Haq Farooqui took four wickets for 34 runs.
Chasing the target of 242 Afghanistan lost its first wicket on the fourth ball of the first overs as Rehmanullah Gurbaz returned to the pavilion for a duck. After this, Ibrahim Zardan and Rahmat Shah scored a partnership of 73 runs.
Zardan was caught on 39 runs. Afghanistan lost its third wicket on 132 when Rahmat Shah was caught out on 62 runs but Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Umarzai led the team to victory by scoring 58 and 73 runs respectively.
Dilshan Madushanka took two wickets for Sri Lanka.