Afghanistan's Azmatullah Omarzai celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Pathum Nissanka
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CWC23 Match 30: Afghanistan beat Sri Lanka to boost World Cup semi-final bid
Afghanistan defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in Pune on Monday to record their third win of the World Cup and maintain their hopes of a semi-final place.
Match Summary
Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka, ICC Cricket World Cup
Afghanistan 242/3 (45.2 ov)
Sri Lanka 241/10 (49.3 ov)
Afghanistan elected to bowl
Result - Afghanistan won by 7 wickets
Set 242 to win after a disciplined bowling display, Afghanistan finished on 242-3, with Azmatullah Omarzai unbeaten on 73 and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi 58 not out, the pair sharing an unbroken stand of 111.
Afghanistan now have six points and sit in fifth place in the table, two behind New Zealand and Australia with the top four guaranteed to make the semi-finals.
Victory also meant Afghanistan, who'd already beaten champions England, had won back-to-back matches at the World Cup for the first time after they defeated Pakistan by eight wickets last time out.
Prior to this edition, they had managed just one win -- against non-Test nation Scotland in 2015 -- from their appearances at two previous World Cups.
Yet they have now beaten three World Cup winners in England, 1992 champions Pakistan and 1996 kings Sri Lanka.
An impressive all-round effort was set up by recalled left-arm fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi's 4-34 in 10 overs as Sri Lanka were held to 241.
Shahidi and Omarzai saw their team home with nearly five overs to spare.
Afghanistan lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz just four balls into their chase when he was bowled by a swinging delivery from Dilshan Madushanka.
But Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah (62) then shared a stand of 73.
Omarzai added fresh impetus with three sixes in a run-a-ball fifty.
Shahidi had got to the landmark in 67 balls but his runs were just as valuable all the same.
Sri Lanka, who've now lost four of their six matches, missed a couple of chances and their day was summed up when Omarzai scored the winning run after being dropped at deep midwicket.
Victory was another notable triumph for Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott, with this success coming against a Sri Lanka team coached by another former England international in Chris Silverwood
Match Stats
Sri Lanka Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Dimuth Karunaratne - 5.2 ov), 2-84 (Pathum Nissanka - 18.1 ov), 3-134 (Kusal Mendis - 27.4 ov), 4-139 (Sadeera Samarawickrama - 29.1 ov), 5-167 (Dhananjaya de Silva - 35.6 ov), 6-180 (Charith Asalanka - 38.5 ov), 7-185 (Dushmantha Chameera - 39.6 ov), 8-230 (Maheesh Theekshana - 46.6 ov), 9-239 (Angelo Mathews - 48.3 ov), 10-241 (Kasun Rajitha - 49.4 ov)
Afghanistan Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz - 0.4 ov), 2-73 (Ibrahim Zadran - 16.5 ov), 3-131 (Rahmat Shah - 27.6 ov)
Playing XI
AFGHANISTAN - Rahmanullah Gurbaz(WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi(C), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
SRI LANKA - Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis(WK/C), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka
Match Details
Date - 2023-10-30 08:30:00
Venue - Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Toss - Afghanistan elected to bowl
Umpires - Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand), Richard Illingworth (England), Alex Wharf (England TV)
Match Referee - Javagal Srinath (India)
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