What a collapse happened in the 7th Match of the ICC Cricket Men’s World Cup between Afghanistan and Srilanka on June 4th, 2019 at Cardiff by 10:30am the local time.
The toss was favoured for the Afghan Captain Gulbadin Naib who elected to bowl first in a bowling track like Cardiff.
It was the Lankans who were in a hunger to make their 1st win in the tournament as the 1996 World Cup champions cheaply crumbled in their 1st match against the Black Caps. With the winning spirit the Srilankan openers, skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and wicket-keeper batsman Kusal Perera started so well who almost made a hundred runs partnership, as they lost their 1st wicket in 92 runs.
After the dismissal of Captain Dimuth Karunaratne who went for 30 runs, it was Lahiru Thirimane came in the middle as no.3 batsman, who supported Kusal Perera to bring his 1st fifty of the tournament. Kushal made 78 off 81 balls which includes 8 boundaries. After the wicket of Lahiru Thirumane and Kushal the Srilankans lost their wickets at regular intervals as no other batsmen supported the team score. The expected senior cricketer Angelo Mathews again went without scoring (duck) for the 2nd time continuously but this time he went in the very 2nd ball not as last time the 9th ball he faced. The Srilankans at one stage were 144 runs for 2, in fact in the end 5th over they were 52 for no loss but, they could make only 201 for the loss of all the 10 wickets. As the rain has stopped the game for almost 3 hours and after the game got commenced, the game was reduced to 41 overs each. The Afghan bowlers Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran pull backed the high scoring match to a bowlers dominating match. Nabi made his 3rd 4 wicket-haul and this is his best bowling performance, 30 runs for 4 wickets in his 9 over spell. The other Afghan bowlers Rashid Khan and Dawlat picked 2 wickets each while Hamid Hassan picked 1 wicket who was very expensive in his first spell.
According to DLS(The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern) method the Afghanistans were asked to chase 187 in 41 overs which was not hard neither to defend nor to chase for both the teams. The Afghans failed to attain this achievable target as their opener Hazratullah Zazai and the middle order batsman Najibullah Zadran contributed some score in the board. They made 30 off 25 and 43 off 56 respectively. All the other batsmen had completely disappointed the Afghan batting department. Hazeratullah Zazai was dismissed with an extraordinary catch in the deep final leg by Thisara Perera. Nuwan Pradeep who was back in the side bowled an exceptional spell as he picked 4 wickets for 31 runs and a maiden in his 9 overs. This is Nuwan’s 2nd 4 wicket-haul and his best bowling performance both in World Cup and ODIs. The all experienced senior bowler Lasith Malinga wrapped up 3 crucial wickets among which 2 of them were classic Malinga yorkers. The Srilankan both in the bowling and fielding department performed well as their other 2 bowlers Isuru Udana and Thisara Perera picked 1 wicket each by bowling an economical spell. Thus the Afghanistans were all out for 152 in 32.4 overs. Thus the Srilankans clinch their 1st win the tournament by 34 runs (DLS method).
Man of the Match (MOM) : Nuwan Pradeep who was just exceptional of the day by picked his 1st 4 wicket haul in the World Cup by giving 31 runs and maiden grabbed him Man of the Match (MOM) at Cardiff.
Records : Srilanks registered their 1st win at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Wales.
Mohammad Nabi registered his best bowling figure 30/4.
Also Nuwan Pradeep made his 1st World Cup 4 wicket-haul and his career best performance 31/4.
The toss was favoured for the Afghan Captain Gulbadin Naib who elected to bowl first in a bowling track like Cardiff.
It was the Lankans who were in a hunger to make their 1st win in the tournament as the 1996 World Cup champions cheaply crumbled in their 1st match against the Black Caps. With the winning spirit the Srilankan openers, skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and wicket-keeper batsman Kusal Perera started so well who almost made a hundred runs partnership, as they lost their 1st wicket in 92 runs.
After the dismissal of Captain Dimuth Karunaratne who went for 30 runs, it was Lahiru Thirimane came in the middle as no.3 batsman, who supported Kusal Perera to bring his 1st fifty of the tournament. Kushal made 78 off 81 balls which includes 8 boundaries. After the wicket of Lahiru Thirumane and Kushal the Srilankans lost their wickets at regular intervals as no other batsmen supported the team score. The expected senior cricketer Angelo Mathews again went without scoring (duck) for the 2nd time continuously but this time he went in the very 2nd ball not as last time the 9th ball he faced. The Srilankans at one stage were 144 runs for 2, in fact in the end 5th over they were 52 for no loss but, they could make only 201 for the loss of all the 10 wickets. As the rain has stopped the game for almost 3 hours and after the game got commenced, the game was reduced to 41 overs each. The Afghan bowlers Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran pull backed the high scoring match to a bowlers dominating match. Nabi made his 3rd 4 wicket-haul and this is his best bowling performance, 30 runs for 4 wickets in his 9 over spell. The other Afghan bowlers Rashid Khan and Dawlat picked 2 wickets each while Hamid Hassan picked 1 wicket who was very expensive in his first spell.
According to DLS(The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern) method the Afghanistans were asked to chase 187 in 41 overs which was not hard neither to defend nor to chase for both the teams. The Afghans failed to attain this achievable target as their opener Hazratullah Zazai and the middle order batsman Najibullah Zadran contributed some score in the board. They made 30 off 25 and 43 off 56 respectively. All the other batsmen had completely disappointed the Afghan batting department. Hazeratullah Zazai was dismissed with an extraordinary catch in the deep final leg by Thisara Perera. Nuwan Pradeep who was back in the side bowled an exceptional spell as he picked 4 wickets for 31 runs and a maiden in his 9 overs. This is Nuwan’s 2nd 4 wicket-haul and his best bowling performance both in World Cup and ODIs. The all experienced senior bowler Lasith Malinga wrapped up 3 crucial wickets among which 2 of them were classic Malinga yorkers. The Srilankan both in the bowling and fielding department performed well as their other 2 bowlers Isuru Udana and Thisara Perera picked 1 wicket each by bowling an economical spell. Thus the Afghanistans were all out for 152 in 32.4 overs. Thus the Srilankans clinch their 1st win the tournament by 34 runs (DLS method).
Man of the Match (MOM) : Nuwan Pradeep who was just exceptional of the day by picked his 1st 4 wicket haul in the World Cup by giving 31 runs and maiden grabbed him Man of the Match (MOM) at Cardiff.
Records : Srilanks registered their 1st win at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Wales.
Mohammad Nabi registered his best bowling figure 30/4.
Also Nuwan Pradeep made his 1st World Cup 4 wicket-haul and his career best performance 31/4.