Sri Lanka's 2019 ICC World Cup could have taken a turn for the worst yesterday, had it not been for fast bowlers Nuwan Pradeep, Lasith Malinga and the inexperience of the Afghanistan batsmen.
Set 187 runs to win the match off 41 overs at Cardiff, the Afghanistan team ran out of the blocks quickly and had reached 32 without loss off four overs, before the experience of Pradeep and Malinga pegged them back and they eventually fell to 152 all out.
The Afghanistan bowlers, led by off-spinner Mohammad Nabi 4/30, had earlier bowled out the Sri Lankans for 201 in 36.5 overs of a game reduced to 41 overs due to a rain delay.
This represented a collapse by the Sri Lankans, as opener Kusal Perera had fired them to 144 for one off only 21 overs. The left-hander, who has modelled his game after the legendary Sri Lankan left-hander Sanath Jayasuriya, looked the part and hammered the Afghan bowling to all parts of the big ground. He and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne added 92 runs for the first wicket before the skipper fell for 30 off 45 balls with three fours.
Perera continued to attack and found an able ally in Lahiru Thirimanne and they took the score to 144 when Nabi began to work his magic in one brilliant over - the 22nd of the innings. First, he removed Thirimanne, bowled for 25, two balls later he sent back Kushal de Silva for two and with the last ball the dangerous Angelo Matthews was sent packing for a duck. His five-ball destruction saw Sri Lanka slip from 144 for one to 146 for four.
When the rains came the score was 183 for eight off 33 overs and Afghanistani leg-spinner Rashid Khan got the prized scalp of Perera for 78 off 81 balls including eight fours. When the players came back on after a two-hour delay, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 201.
Afghanistan t that point would have harboured hopes of a win but it was not to be as they succumbed to good swing and seam bowling from the Sri Lanka duo of Malinga and Pradeep.
With the win, Sri Lanka now has two points from two matches after their opening loss to New Zealand while Afghanistan are yet to break the mark following an opening loss to Australia.
