Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by 04 runs in a thriller, Lead the 03 match series 1 – 0

Afghanistan Men’s Tour of Sri Lanka 2024 – 01st T20 International – Dambulla, Matale District, Central Province

Sri Lanka put into bat, 160 all out – ( 19 Overs ) Skipper Wanidu Hasaranga 67 ( 3×6, 7×4, 32 balls ), Sadeera Samarawickrama 25, Dhananjaya De Silva 24 – Kusal Mendis / Dhananjaya De Silva 29 runs for the 02nd wicket – lost the first 04 wickets for the addition of 48 runs – Sadeera Samarawickrama / Wanidu Hasaranga 72 runs for the 05th wicket – the last 06 wickets fell for the addition of 33 runs – first 06 overs : 51 / 3, 10 overs : 82 / 4, 15 overs : 139 / 5, last 04 overs : 21 / 5 – Fazalhaq Farooqi 3 / 25, Naveen-ul-Haq 2 / 25, Azmatullah Omarzai 2 / 30, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 02 victims.

Afghanistan in reply, 156 / 9 – ( 2Overs ) Skipper Ibrahim Zadran 67no ( 8×4, 55 balls ) – carried his bat through the innings – Karim Janat 20, Gulbadin Naib 16, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 13, Extras 12 – Ibrahim Zadran / Rahmanullah Gurbaz 25 run opening stand, Ibrahim Zadran / Gulbadin Naib 43 runs for the 02nd wicket – lost the next 04 wickets for the addition of 18 runs – Ibrahim Zadran / Karim Janat 39 runs for the 06th wicket – the last 04 wickets fell for the addition of 25 runs – first 06 overs : 57 / 1, 10 overs : 76 / 3, 15 overs : 117 / 5, last 05 overs : 39 / 5 – Matheesha Pathirana 4 / 24, Dasun Shanaka 2 / 17.

Player of the Match : Matheesha Pathirana – Sri Lanka

This was the first ever T 20 International played at this venue. After an extensive upgrading of the facility, including a state of the art lead lighting system also installed, an International was played at the venue after 06 years, in front of a capacity crowd.

Report assisted by srilankacricket.lk
Photos courtesy SLC Media