Ahead of the all-important ICC 2023 World Cup later this year in India, a lot of teams are organising bilateral series of the 50-over format, including the Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan series, which is scheduled between 2-7 June 2023. All the matches are scheduled to be played at the Hambantota International Stadium and the first ODI just came to an end a few minutes ago.
The away team won the toss and decided to field first, restricting Sri Lanka to a total of 268 runs, with the final ball seeing the last wicket falling for Sri Lanka. Their effort was led by Charith Asalanka who top scored with 91(95) and Dhananjaya de Silva also scored a quickfire fifty; Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareeq Ahmad picked 2 wickets each for the visitors.
Afghanistan beats Sri Lanka by 6 wickets
The chase started well and after Rahmanuah Gurbaz fell early, they scored a 146-run partnership for the second wicket between Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah. The duo steadied the ship and put Afghanistan in a very strong position to win the game, getting scores of 98 and 55 respectively, before getting dismissed.
Meanwhile every Srilankan fan..#t20cricket #AFGvSL #indipredict #SLvAFG #lovecricket pic.twitter.com/tmKUCSmmY2
— Indibet_Official (@indibetofficial) June 2, 2023
It was an easy chase after these two built this partnership and Afghanistan is now proving that they’re not a team to be considered an underdog or an associate nation anymore. They’ve beat Sri Lanka a few times in the past and they started this 3-match series with a win too, giving themselves a good chance to walk away with an overseas series victory.
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We walked over to Twitter to take a look at some of the best reactions from users about this victory, which we’ll talk about in this article. There was a lot of talk about Matheesha Pathirana who made his debut for Sri Lanka after lifting the IPL 2023 title with Chennai Super Kings, this only being his 4th ever List A game. CSK and Sri Lanka Cricket tweeted about the same:
ODI gets a taste of Our Baby Malinga! Go well Matheesha ๐#SLvAFG #WhistlePodu #Yellove ๐ฆ๐ pic.twitter.com/5S2H4gEtFC
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) June 2, 2023
๐๐ Exciting moment for Matheesha Pathirana as he receives his One Day International cap from skipper Dasun Shanaka! ๐#SLvAFG pic.twitter.com/2EaBAXYwzC
— Sri Lanka Cricket ๐ฑ๐ฐ (@OfficialSLC) June 2, 2023
Srilankan team suks at using Pathirana. Only @msdhoni can manage him well. #SLvAFG
— Rene Mag (Hiatus) (@Magritte24Rene) June 2, 2023
He didn’t have the best of ODI debuts with only one wicket to his name in 8.5 overs, in which he conceded 66 runs and gave as many as 16 wides as well. During the chase, Ibrahim Zadran nearly missed a well-deserved century and he became the joint second-fastest to 500 career ODI runs, only after South Africa’s Janneman Malan.
Fastest to 500 ODI Runs
(Innings)
7 : ๐ฟ๐ฆ Janneman Malan
9 : ๐ฆ๐ซ Ibrahim Zadran **
9 : ๐ณ๐ฑ Tom Cooper
9 : ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Kevin Pietersen
9 : ๐ต๐ฐ Imam-Ul-Haq
9 : ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Dennis Amiss๐ฑ๐ฐ #SLvAFG ๐ฆ๐ซ | #CricketTwitter
— Nemo (@LuciferStan07) June 2, 2023
And regardless of the individual contributors, it’s still going to be a fact that Sri Lanka lost the first game of the series. For a team having the home advantage to go with decades of more international cricket than their opponents, there’s no excuse for this loss. They have the experienced likes of Angelo Mathews and others in the side, and it’s no longer a ‘young’ side as such.
Ibrahim Zadran against Sri Lanka in Odis:
โข106(120)- 1st Odi, 2022.
โข10(18)- 2nd Odi, 2022.
โข162(138)- 3rd Odi, 2022.
โข98(98)- 1st Odi, 2023*.He scored 376 runs, and has an average of 94 against Sri lanka. #SLvAFG pic.twitter.com/Eyrg61MoEE
— Resanth. (@CricResanth) June 2, 2023
Just my luck, too sick to watch the match today, but my parents' exasperation over what is happening is leaking through my bedroom walls. #SLvAFG
— Estelle Vasudevan (@Estelle_Vasude1) June 2, 2023
A team which used to challenge teams like Australia & England at their backyard is now struggling to win at home against Afghanistan ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ
How fastly things change !
We can't argue that it's young team, They have young to Experienced ones.
Still ๐๐คฆ๐ปโโ๏ธ @OfficialSLC #Cricket #SLvAFG— Visheshta Jotwani ๐ธ (@visheshtaaa_j15) June 2, 2023
For similar updates from SL vs AFG 2023 and other cricketing news from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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