Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan - 2nd ODI Mendis, Karunaratne shine as Sri Lanka level series

Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera (R) celebrates with teammates after capturing an Afghanistan wicket (Photo credits: ICC)

By M. Shamil Amit

Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne shone with match-winning knocks in Sri Lanka’s convincing 132-run win over Afghanistan in the 2nd ODI encounter played at the Sooriyawewa Stadium yesterday, which helped the host side level the three-match series at one each.

Afghanistan, in pursuit of a massive 324 runs, was never going to be in the run chase as they were made to struggle for their runs, which was in contrast to their performance in the first match as they were bowled out for 191 runs.

They lost their first wicket in the fourth over with the score at 11 runs, and despite the second pair, Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah, putting in some resistance and sharing a 51-run stand, they were running short of overs. By the time they separated with the score at 62, they had faced just under 16 overs.

At the halfway stage of the inning, they were in a spot of trouble with the score at 112/2. Zadran, who made 54, put on another valuable partnership of 84 runs for the third wicket with Hiashmatullah Shahidi, but they lost three quick wickets for the addition of 14 runs and slid from 146/3 to 160/6, which included the wicket of Shahidi, who made 57.

The fall of the three wickets almost sealed the fate of Afghanistan, and it was the spin pair Dhananjaya de Silva and Wanindu Hasaranga who together shared six wickets between them, with de Silva doing the early damage as he ran through the middle order batting and Hasaranga bagging the last three wickets to fall, combining to bundle the visitors for a score of 191. In fact, Afghanistan lost their last five wickets for just 31 runs.

The morning session of proceedings saw Sri Lanka invited to take first lease of the wicket, sending the Afghan bowlers on a leather hunt that began with the opening pair of Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne having things their own way.

The pair posted 50 runs on the board in 56 balls, having survived a review in the eighth over. They were making steady progress and looked set to bring up the 100-run partnership, but it was not to be as right-arm spinner Mohammad Nabi made the breakthrough with the duo having put on 82 with the wicket of Nissanka, who made 43 in 56 balls, which had six boundaries.
Karunaratne, joined by Kusal Mendis, put up the host side’s 100, but he did not last long as he became the victim of left-arm spinner Noor Ahamed after sharing a brief stand of 28 runs and having contributed 52 runs, which came off 62 balls inclusive of seven boundaries.
With Sri Lanka on 110/2 in the 23rd over, Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama made merry as they succeeded in posting Sri Lanka’s 150 runs, which followed with a 50-run stand in 54 balls before Mendis raced to his half-ton in 57 balls.

However, Samarawickrama was unfortunate to miss out on his half-century, falling victim to right-arm spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who had made 44 in 46 balls with five boundaries and contributed a valuable 88 runs for the third wicket.

Charith Asalanka was unable to make any impression after being dismissed cheaply for six. Mendis, along with Dhananjaya de Silva, continued to torment the Afghanistan bowlers, with the pair putting on a quickfire 41 runs in 23 balls for the fifth wicket before Mendis’ innings came to an end, having cracked 78 in 75 balls that included seven boundaries and a six.
De Silva and skipper Dasun Shanka took over from there and added 34 runs in 22 balls for the sixth wicket. Sri Lanka left with 17 balls to face, saw de Silva and Wanindu Hasaranga make merry to associate in an unbroken 35 runs for the seventh wicket for Sri Lanka to end their innings with a formidable score of 323/6.

The two teams will play the third and deciding series match on June 7 at the same venue.