Afghanistan bowl Sri Lanka out for 241

Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka plays a shot

By Champika Fernando in Pune  

Sri Lankan batting collapsed like a pack of cards under pressure as Afghanistan’s fearsome bowling attack restricted them to a below-par 241 in their sixth ICC Men’s World Cup fixture at the Pune Cricket Ground in India yesterday.  
Sri Lankan batters were never in control after being put in to bat first on the Pune track and played right into the hands of the opposition with some rash shots inviting their downfall.

  
There were two 50-plus stands, first between Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis, and the other between Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama, but Afghanistan led by Fazalhaq Farooqi continued to stifle and strangle the Sri Lankans with some exceptional efforts with the ball.  

Farooqi finished with 4-34, his best bowling figures in ODI cricket while Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman claimed 2-38 as Sri Lanka were bowled out with three balls to spare.  

It was a must-win game to keep their semi-finals hopes alive. Their collapse was unexplainable, especially with most of their top-order batters getting the starts but throwing them away when it mattered the most to the team. This left Afghanistan with what look like a chase under lights and dewy conditions.

  
Dimuth Karunaratne replaced misfiring Kusal Perera but after driving Fazalhaq Farooqi for four through extra cover, he found himself trapped leg-before the next ball to take the walk back to the pavilion. After being ruled not out, the Afghans took the review and that cut short Karunaratne’s debut in this World Cup for just 15 runs off 21 balls.  

The opening stand was worth only 22 runs and Sri Lanka managed 41 runs in the first powerplay for the loss of one wicket, their lowest by a distance in the tournament. The previous was 51-0 against Australia.  

Nissanka, who is one of the three cricketers to have scored over 1,000 runs this year, fell agonisingly short of his fifth consecutive half century when Azmatullah Omarzai with a peach of a delivery induced an edge to the wicket-keeper.  

Nissanka was on a roll with the bat with four back-to-back half centuries. He played cautiously and was four runs short of his fifth when he headed back with disbelief at what he had just done.  

The wicket was of great importance to the Afghans as Sri Lanka were slowly but steadily putting on a partnership to lay a solid foundation for a defendable total in the match. Nissanka and Mendis had put on 62 off 77 balls for the second wicket and Sri Lanka were 87 for the loss of two at the end of the 25th over.  

Having scored only 31 runs off his last three innings, Mendis started off cautiously with his first 17 balls fetching him just six runs, but shifted gears after hitting his first boundary off Azmatullah in the 18th ball of his innings.  
Having done all the hard work, he slog-swept Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman straight into the hands of substitute fielder Najibullah Zadran at deep mid-wicket.  

Mendis had started off the tournament well, hitting a half-century and a century against South Africa and Pakistan but since then had dug a hole for himself, trying to be more cautious.  

When Rahman struck, Samarawickrama and Mendis had put on 50 in quick time and Rahman trapped Samarawickrama in his next over to leave Sri Lanka struggling at 139 for four in the 30th over.  

Samarawickrama, like Nissanka, has been excellent with the bat, hitting a century and two half centuries so far in the tournament. But when he was trapped in front of the middle stump to get marching orders, he was threatening for a big score reaching 36 off 40.  
Dhananjaya de Silva had done too little to justify his selection to the team. Much was expected of him after he was sent in to bat ahead of Angelo Mathews and he built up pressure, eating up 26 balls to make his 14. He was undone by Rashid Khan with the wrong’un as de Silva, trying to defend missed it completely to have his stumps rattled.  

Sri Lanka got themselves into a complete rut when Charith Asalanka mistimed an attempted pull-off Farooqi to straight up in the air as Rashid Khan completed an easy catch at mid-off. Duhsmantha Chameera ran himself out before Mathews and Theekshana launched a mini counter-attack. Theekshana was cleaned up by Farooqi for a well-made 29 while Mathews was caught at long-on by Mohammad Nabi just centimetres away from the boundary ropes, when he attempted to take on Farooqi as Sri Lanka had to satisfy with a below-par score. He made 23.