Sri Lanka wasted the fastest start of the Cricket World Cup by imploding from 144-1 to 201 all out against Afghanistan in a rain-affected match at Sophia Gardens on Tuesday.
With the match reduced to 41 overs per side following a rain delay of nearly three hours, Afghanistan faces a target of 187 — a revised figure using the Duckworth-Lewis method — to claim only its second win at a World Cup.
After 10 overs, the Sri Lankans were 79-0 — the highest score at that stage so far in this tournament. Soon followed a dramatic collapse, with opener Kusal Perera (78) watching on as teammates were skittled out at the other end.
Afghanistan took five wickets in 27 balls — with Mohammad Nabi taking three of them in a five-ball span in the same over — as Sri Lanka slumped from 144-1 to 159-6.
Perera departed when gloving a reverse sweep behind off allrounder Rashid Khan, then rain stopped play with Sri Lanka 182-8 after 33 overs.
Afghanistan needed just 23 balls after the restart to take the final two wickets.
Nabi finished with figures of 4-30 off his nine overs.
The last nine wickets fell for 57 runs in 15.4 overs.
There were 35 extras, which was the second-highest run scorer on the Sri Lanka scorecard.
Source: Associated Press
-Agencies
