Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field against Sri Lanka in Pune. Fazalhaq Farooqi, who replaced Noor Ahmad in the XI, got an early wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne before the second-wicket partnership for Sri Lanka added 62 runs. Another 50-run partnership followed for the third wicket as Sri Lanka were well placed at 134-3 after 27.4 overs.

However, Afghanistan came back strongly in the second half of the innings, restricting Sri Lanka to just 107 runs in their last 21.5 overs. Regular wickets were the hallmark of the innings as none of the Sri Lankan batters went past 50. Mujeeb Ur Rahman andFarooqi were the star performers with the ball for Afghanistan, registering figures of 2-38 and 4-34 respectively.

In response, Afghanistan got off to a poor start as Dilshan Madushanka cleaned up Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck in the first over of the innings. Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah then dug in, adding 74 for the second wicket before the former became Madushanka’s second victim.

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Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi joined Rahmat at the crease and anchored the rest of the chase to perfection. When Rahmat fell for 62 off 74 balls at the score of 131, Afghanistan needed another 111 runs in 22 overs.

No.5 Azmatullah Omarzai took charge at this point. His breezy 63-ball 73 not out ensured that Afghanistan had no trouble gunning down the target of 242 with 28 balls to spare. Shahidi remained not out on 58 off 74.

This was Afghanistan’s third victory in the 2023 World Cup, with each of them coming against former world champions – England, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

With this victory, they have now jumped to fifth on the points table with six points from six games, only one position and two points behind fourth-placed Australia.

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