ICC World Cup 2023, SL vs AFG: Giant-slayers Afghanistan stun Lanka by 7 wickets

Halfcenturies from Rahmant Shah skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai and a fourwicket haul by Fazalhaq Farooqi helped Afghanistan secure a memorable sevenwicket win over Sri Lanka in their ICC Cricket World Cup match at Pune on MondayWith this win Afghanistan climbed to the fifth position in the points table with three wins three losses and six pointsThis was the third upset win that the Afghans recorded over a former World Champion after beating Pakistan and defending champions EnglandWith two wins and four losses Sri Lanka currently sit in the sixth spot on the points table with four pointsChasing 242 Afghanistan was off to a poor start as opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz was cleaned up for a fourball duck by Dilshan Madhushanka Afghanistan was 01 in 04 oversAlso ReadICC World Cup 2023 Indian Team arrives at domestic airport in MumbaiIbrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah started rebuilding the innings following the early hiccup At the end of 10 overs Afghanistan brought up their 50The partnership between both batters was cut short by Madhushanka who dismissed Zadran for 39 off 57 balls with four boundaries and a six after he was caught by Chamika Karunaratne at short third man Afghanistan was 732 in 165 oversRahmat and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi helped Afghanistan reach the 100run mark in 215 oversRahmat reached his 25th ODI fifty in 61 balls with five foursThe 58run partnership for the second wicket ended with Rahmat being caught by Karunaratne on a delivery by Kasun Rajitha for 62 off 74 balls with seven fours Afghanistan was at 1313 in 28 oversSkipper Shahidi was joined by Azmatullah Omarzai and the pair brought up 150 for Afghanistan in 321 oversShahidi brought up his second halfcentury of the tournament in 67 balls with one four and a sixOmarzai also reached his halfcentury in 50 balls with two fours and three sixesAfghanistan eventually came out winners by seven runs with Omarzai hitting the winning runsMadushanka got two wickets while Rajitha got one wicketEarlier Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Fazalhaq Farooqis fiery bowling helped Afghanistan skittle out Sri Lanka for 241 in the World Cup match at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on MondayFarooqi was the wreckerinchief for the Afghans as he broke the back of Sri Lankas batting with careerbest ODI figures of 434 while Mujeeb Ur Rahman bagged two wickets Pathum Nissanka scored the highest for Sri Lanka with 46 while Kusal Mendis scored 39 to help their team post a competitive total of 241After winning the toss Hashmatullah Shahidi elected to bowl first The match between the familiar foes got off to a slow start Dimuth Karunaratne 15 hit the first boundary of the match in the fifth over but was removed for leg before wicket on the next ball The call that the ball was moving down the legside was initially made by the onfield umpire but it was reversed after reviewEven though Kusal Mendis attempted to keep the innings together with Pathum Nissanka the run rate remained closer to fourNissanka eventually ramped up the tempo hitting a string of boundaries on a deck where the ball bounced off the bat with good bounce He shared 62 runs for the second wicket with Mendis before nicking oneoff Azmatullah Omarzais bowlingKusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama stitched a steady thirdwicket stand after early blows from Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azamatullah Omarzai Following two consecutive halfcenturies Samarawickrama got things going early in his inningsAfter the midinnings the Afghanistan bowlers altered the innings trajectory limiting the pace of scoring and compelling Sri Lankas hitters to take long balls As a result in the 28th over Mendis 39 successfully holed a delivery from Mujeeb Ur Rahman to deep midwicket In his very next over Mujeeb struck once more to account for the set Samarawickrama 36 as wellWith four wickets lost and little momentum Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva proceeded slowly Even though he made it in Dhananjaya 14 was destroyed by Rashid Khans skill because he was unable to capitalise on his start After failing to read Rashids cunning delivery in the 36th over Dhananjaya was set up and eventually bowled off the last ball of the overAsalanka too lost his balance and fell after misjudging when to tug on Farooqi and Rashid managed to hang onto a straightforward opportunity At the end of 40 overs Sri Lanka put 186 on the scoreboard with the loss of 7 wicketsMaheesh Theekshana added a valuable 29 runs but Farooqi ended his stay at the crease with a superb yorker by in the 47th overAngelo Mathews then handled the charge as he slammed boundaries at regular intervals however his stint at the crease came to an end as he removed Farooqi for 23 With an excellent effort with the ball Afghanistan skittled out Sri Lanka for 241Brief score Sri Lanka 241 Pathum Nissanka 46 Kusal Mendis 39 Fazalhaq Farooqi 434 beat Afghanistan 2423 in 452 overs Azmatullah Omarzai 73 Rahmat Shah 62 Dilshan Madhushanka 248This story has been sourced from 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