Afghanistan has defeated Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in the 30th match of World Cup 2023. This is Afghanistan’s third victory in the World Cup 2023. This is Sri Lanka’s fourth defeat in the tournament and with this, Sri Lanka’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals are almost over. In the match played at Maharashtra Cricket Stadium in Pune on Monday, Sri Lanka, batting first, scored 241 runs after losing all the wickets in 50 overs. In response, Afghanistan team won the match by scoring 242 runs for 3 wickets in 45.2 overs, thanks to half-centuries of Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai.
Chasing the target of 242 runs, Afghanistan got off to a bad start. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was clean bowled in the very first over. He could not even open an account. There was a partnership of 73 runs for the second wicket between Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat. Zadran could score only 39 runs. Rahmat Shah was out after scoring 62 runs in 74 balls. After this, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Umarzai did not allow any wicket to fall and led the team to victory. Hashmatullah Shahidi scored 58 runs in 74 balls and Umarzai played an unbeaten inning of 73 runs.
Earlier, batting first against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka scored 241 runs after losing all the wickets in 49.3 overs. Pathum Nissanka scored the highest 46 runs for Sri Lanka. Fazalhaq Farooqui took maximum 4 wickets for Afghanistan. Sri Lanka, who came to bat first, did not have a good start. The team lost the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne in the sixth over. He could score only 15 runs. Pathum Nissanka was out after scoring 46 runs in 60 balls. Kusal Mendis scored 39 runs in 50 balls. After this Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals. Sadira was out after scoring 36 runs. Silva could score only 14 runs. Aslanka played an inning of 22 runs. Chameera was run out. Teekshana scored 29 runs in 31 balls. Mathews scored 23 runs in 26 balls.