Sri Lanka beats Afghanistan despite batting collapse

Sri Lankan players celebrating victory against Afghanistan in World Cup at Cardiff on Tuesday.
Sri Lankan players celebrating victory against Afghanistan in World Cup at Cardiff on Tuesday.

Cardiff (Wales), June 4: Sri Lanka recovered from a dramatic batting collapse to knock over Afghanistan for 152 and seal a 34-run win for its first victory at the Cricket World Cup today.
The Sri Lankans imploded from 144-1 to 201 all out in an innings delayed by nearly three hours because of rain at Sophia Gardens in the Welsh capital.
Chasing a revised target of 187 from a maximum 21 overs, Afghanistan slumped from 34-0 to 57-5 then battled back through a 64-run stand between Gulbadin Naib (23) and Najibullah Zadran (43).
Sri Lanka again responded and took the final five wickets for 31 runs, with recalled seamer Nuwan Pradeep getting 4-31.
The 1996 World Cup winner lost its opening group game to New Zealand by 10 wickets. Afghanistan has two defeats from two matches, after a loss to Australia on Saturday.
The error-strewn match in Cardiff featured 52 extras – Sri Lanka’s 35 was the second-highest scorer in the scorecard – to strengthen the feeling this was a contest between the two teams likely fighting to avoid last place in the 10-team group.
The Afghans’ only win at a World Cup remains the one over Scotland in 2015 but they’ll feel this match slipped from their grasp, especially when Sri Lanka was reeling at 159-6 after three wickets in one over from Mohammad Nabi.
Sri Lanka, which made the fastest 10-over start to the tournament by racing to 79-0, lost its last nine wickets for 57 runs in 15.4 overs. (Agencies)

SCOREBOARD
Sri Lanka Innings:
D Karunaratne c Najibullah b Nabi 30
K Perera c Shahzad b Rashid 78
L Thirimanne b Nabi 25
K Mendis c Rahmat b Nabi 2
A Mathews c Rahmat b Nabi 0
D de Silva c Shahzad b Hamid 0
T Perera run out (Hashmatullah/Shahzad) 2
I Udana b Dawlat 10
S Lakmal not out 15
L Malinga b Dawlat 4
N Pradeep b Rashid 0
Extras: (LB-10, NB-3, W-22) 35
Total: (all out, 36.5 overs) 201
Bowling: Dawlat 6-0-34-2, Hamid 7-0-53-1, Mujeeb 3-0-19-0, Nabi 9-0-30-4, Gulbadin 4-0-38-0, Rashid 7.5-1-17-2.
Afghanistan Innings:
Mohammad Shazad c Karunaratne b Malings 7
Hazratullah Zazai c Thisara Perera b Pradeep 30
Rahmat Shah c Mathews b Udana 2
Hashmutullah Shahidi c Kusal Perera b Pradeep 4
Mohammad Nabi b Thisara Perera 11
Gulbadin Naib lbw Pradeep 23
Najibullah Zadran run out (Karunaratne) 43
Rashid Khan b N Pradeep 2
Dawlat Zadran b Malinga 6
Hamid Hassan b Malinga 6
Mujeeb Ur Rahman not out 1
Extras: (B-1, W-15, N-1) 17
Total: (all out, 32.4 overs) 152
Bowling: Malinga 6.4-0-39-3, Lakmal 6-0-27-0, Isuru Udana 6-0-28-1, Pradeep 9-1-31-4, Thissara Perera 4-0-19-1,Dhananjay de Silva 1-0-7-0.

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