Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by 34 runs in the 7th match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Sophia Gardens Cardiff, on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka became the 7th team in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 competition to gain 2 points.
However, Sri Lanka innings was interrupted on 182-8 after 33 overs by rain and when the team resumed with their match. The match was reduced to 41 overs per side. Rashid Khan took the last wicket in the 37th over to dismiss all of them for 201.
The Afghanistan target was revised to 187 and Hazratullah struck some encouraging boundaries. But, Sri Lanka bowled out Afghanistan for 152 under the bright floodlights in the 33rd over to win by 34 runs.
Man of the match
Nuwan Pradeep, who took a career-best 4-31 as Sri Lanka fought back to beat Afghanistan in a tense, rain-affected the match was declared as the man of the match.
Scorecard
Afghanistan
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | Fours (4’s) | Sixes (6’s) | Fall of Wicket |
| Mohammad Shahzad | c Karunaratne b Malinga | 7 | 10 | 1 | 0 | (34-1) |
| Hazratullah Zazai | c Perera b Pradeep | 30 | 25 | 3 | 1 | (44-3) |
| Rahmat Shah | c Mathews b Udana | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | (42-2) |
| Hashmatullah Shahidi | c Perera b Pradeep | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 | (57-4) |
| Mohammad Nabi | b Perera | 11 | 16 | 1 | 0 | (57-5) |
| Gulbadin Naib | lbw Pradeep | 23 | 32 | 2 | 0 | (121-6) |
| Najibullah Zadran | run out Karunaratne | 43 | 53 | 6 | 0 | (145-9) |
| Rashid Khan | b Pradeep | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | (123-7) |
| Dawlat Zardan | b Malinga | 6 | 18 | 1 | 0 | (136-8) |
| Hamid Hassan | b Malinga | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | (152-10) |
| Mujeeb Rahman | Not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 152/10 | 32.4 | Overs | TARGET: 187 in 41 Overs | ||
| Bowler | Overs | Maiden | Runs | Wicket | ||
| Lasith Malinga | 6.4 | 0 | 39 | 3 | ||
| Suranga Lakmal | 5 | 0 | 25 | 0 | ||
| Isuru Udana | 6 | 0 | 28 | 1 | ||
| Nuwan Pradeep | 9 | 1 | 31 | 4 | ||
| Thisara Perera | 4 | 0 | 19 | 1 | ||
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Sri Lanka
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | Fours (4’s) | Sixes (6’s) | Fall of Wicket |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Najibullah b Nabi | 30 | 45 | 3 | 0 | (92-1) |
| Kusal Perera | c Shahzad b Rashid | 78 | 81 | 8 | 0 | (180-8) |
| Lahiru Thirimanne | b Nabi | 25 | 34 | 1 | 0 | (144-2) |
| Kushal Mendis | c Rahmat b Nabi | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | (146-3) |
| Anjelo Mathews | c Rahmat b Nabi | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | (146-4) |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Shahzad b Hamid | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | (149-5) |
| Thisara Perera | run out (Shahidi/Shahzad) | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | (159-6) |
| Isuru Udana | b Dawlat | 10 | 21 | 0 | 1 | (178-7) |
| Suranga Lakmal | not out | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | |
| Lasith malinga | b Zadran | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | (199-9) |
| Nuwan Pradeep | b Rashid | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | (201-10) |
| Total | 201/10 | 36.5 | Overs | |||
| Bowler | Overs | Maiden | Runs | Wicket | ||
| Dawlat Zadran | 6 | 0 | 34 | 2 | ||
| Hamid Hassan | 7 | 0 | 53 | 1 | ||
| Mujeeb ur Rehman | 3 | 0 | 19 | 0 | ||
| Mohammad Nabi | 9 | 0 | 30 | 4 | ||
| Gulbadin Naib | 4 | 0 | 38 | 0 | ||
| Rashid Khan | 7.5 | 1 | 17 | 2 |
A disappointing result for Afghanistan but a timely fightback from Sri Lanka in this ICC cricket world cup 2019.
