‘No more underdogs’ – Fans react as Afghanistan register their 3rd win by defeating Sri Lanka in ODI World Cup clash

The 30th match of the ODI World Cup 2023 was played between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Monday, October 30. The Afghans delivered an amazing all-round performance by defeating the Sri Lankans by 7 wickets registering their 3rd win of the tournament.

Talking about the match, Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field first. The decision proved right as Fazalhaq Farooqi struck early by dismissing the comeback man, Dimuth Karunaratne in the 6th over. However, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis steadied the innings with a 62-run stand for the 2nd wicket, but they never tried to dominate the bowlers. 

Afghanistan’s star allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai provided the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Nissanka on 46 runs in the 19th over. Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi used his spinners during the middle stages and kept a tab on the run rate. 

The pressure built worked a charm as the well-set Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama were dismissed by the impressive Mujeeb Ur Rahman in his back-to-back overs. It also precipitated a collapse as Sri Lanka slipped from 134 for 2 to 185 for 7. Sri Lanka’s veteran allrounder Angelo Mathews hung around and found a willing partner in Maheesh Theekshana to help Sri Lanka get past 240. Farooqi made his comeback in the team and picked up 4 wickets right away.

Brilliant batting performance by Afghanistan

Chasing the target, Afghanistan had a horrible start as they lost their most destructive batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz on a duck. However, the two in-form batters Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah batted carefully and stitched an impressive 73-run stand for the 2nd wicket.

Dilshan Madhushanka struck again and dismissed Zadran in the 17th over. However, the Afghans avoided further setbacks later as Rahmat stitched another impressive partnership of 58 runs with skipper Shahidi. Just when it was looking like Rahmat was nearing the 3-digit milestone, Kasun Rajitha got rid of him on 62 runs. 

But it was the last wicket taken by the Sri Lanka bowlers as Shahid and Omarzai stitched the match-winning unbeaten 111-run stand for the 4th wicket and helped the team to win the match by 7 wickets. Shahid (58*) and Omarzai (73) remained unbeaten till the end.

Here’s how fans reacted: