The Afghanistan cricket team is on the rise in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 after previously defeating England and Pakistan in the quadrennial event. Many have said that it was just a fluke, but on Monday, the team handed a loss of 7 wickets to the 1996 World Cup winners, Sri Lanka, in the 30th match of the tournament, held in Pune. Sri Lankan Captain Kusal Mendis, burdened like a ship weighed down by the captain’s albatross, hasn’t been able to perform at his best since taking on the role of captaincy. This was the fourth loss for the Kusal Mendis-led side in the ongoing event.
It has been a good Monday for the Afghans as they deserved every bit of praise from the critics after their gratifying performance against the Lankan tigers. They were given a target of 242 runs, and they chased it down like a piece of cake, reaching the target in 45.2 overs with the loss of only 3 wickets. Additionally, this is the first time that Afghanistan has won back-to-back matches in the ODI WCs. With the win, Afghanistan has now surpassed Sri Lanka and Pakistan on the points table and is proudly sitting in the 5th position in the Points tally of the WC 2023.
Farooqi’s Gripping Spell Puts the Opposition in a Straitjacket
Afghan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi struck early in the day, bagging the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne, who replaced Kusal Perera in the playing XI. The 62-run stand between Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka frustrated Afghanistani fans for a while, but Azmatullah Omarzai ensured the breaking of the partnership and got the prized wicket of Nissanka, who was batting at 46. Then came Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who took the two wickets of Kusal Mendis (39 off 50) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (36 off 40) in his back-to-back overs. Star spinner Rashid Khan, playing his 100th ODI match, bowled out Dhananjaya de Silva for 14. After a couple of overs, Farooqi removed Asalanka from the crease, who was batting at 22.
At the start of the third powerplay of the Lankan innings, Dushmantha Chameera, who replaced the injured Lahiru Kumara in the squad for the rest of the tournament, was run out in his first match of the World Cup 2023. Maheesh Theekshana played a small cameo innings, scoring 29 runs with Angelo Mathews, who made 23 off 26. A 45-run partnership between both was broken by Farooqi again, who dismissed both batsmen in his back-to-back overs. Rahmatullah Gurbaz’s direct run-out to Kasun Rajitha’s stumps concluded the innings for Lanka, ending at 241 in 49.3 overs. Farooqi ended up with an impressive spell of 10-1-34-4. Interestingly, Farooqi’s 4/34 became the second-best bowling figures for Afghanistan in World Cups.
No Muss, No Fuss Run Chase
Afghanistan has now won their second consecutive match chasing 240 plus runs. They chased down 283 runs against Pakistan in the last match and 242 against Kusal Mendis’ led side on Monday. However, an early wicket picked by Dilshan Madhushanka of Gurbaz, who got out on a duck for the first time in his ODI cricket career, left doubts among Afghan fans. But the 73-run second-wicket partnership between Rahmat Shah and Ibrahim Zadran steadied the ship after some early turbulence.
In the 17th over, Madhushanka clinched his second wicket of the match by dismissing Zadran on 39. Rahmat Shah, who was playing beautifully, got out on 62 to Rajitha on the last ball of the 28th over. Nevertheless, Rahmat Shah has now become the second Afghan batter to register consecutive 50-plus scores in World Cups after Ikram Alikhil. The match-winning partnership of 111 runs between Hashmatullah Shahidi (58 off 74) and Azmatullah Omarzai (73 off 63) became the linchpin of the team. The partnership between the dynamic duo became the fifth-highest stand for Afghanistan in World Cups.
We Didn’t Do Enough with the Bat – Kusal Mendis
After the loss in the match, Sri Lankan captain Kusal Mendis, expressed his thoughts in the post-match presentation. He acknowledged that their team had fallen short with the bat, believing that a target of 300 or even 280 runs would have been sufficient, but it wasn’t meant to be. He reckoned that their bowlers had performed well in the first 10 overs, but the arrival of dew made it challenging for their spinners. Mentioning the conditions, Mendis noted the impact of dew, which he felt allowed the ball to come onto the bat nicely in the second innings. He also gave credit to Madushanka, who had performed admirably in the first few games.
“We didn’t do enough with the bat. 300 or maybe 280 would have been sufficient, but not to be. Bowlers have done well in the first 10 overs and the dew has come in little bit and then it became a little hard to bowl the spinners,” said Kusal Mendis.
“Actually there was dew today and the ball came on to the bat nicely in the second innings. He (Madushanka) has done really well, in the first couple of games as well and hope he will continue his form going forward,” he added.