Matheesha Pathirana and Binura Fernando bowled sensible dying overs for Sri Lanka to beat Afghanistan by 4 runs in a T20 in Dambulla on Saturday.
Captain Ibrahim Zadran batted Afghanistan to the brink of its first win of the tour however the facet may rating solely 9 runs within the final two overs when 14 had been wanted. Pathirana bowled the nineteenth over and took two wickets and allowed solely three runs. He was named man of the match.
Fernando, who conceded 38 runs in his earlier three overs, bowled the final over and began with 4 dot balls towards Zadran, who refused singles to not expose No. 11 batter Fazalhaq Farooqi. That left Afghanistan to attain 11 off the final two balls and Zadran scored two and completed with a meaningless eighth boundary. Zadran completed 67 not out off 55 balls.
Sri Lanka was all out for 160 in 19 overs with captain Wanindu Hasaranga scoring 67 off 32 deliveries together with three sixes and 7 boundaries.
“We had been 15 to twenty runs brief however our bowlers did an amazing job,” Hasaranga mentioned. With seven batters, Sri Lanka ought to have taken extra duty, he added.
Quick bowler Farooqi took 3-25 whereas Naveen-ul -Haq and Azmatullah Omarzai took two wickets every.
Afghanistan was 71-3 after 9 overs within the chase however collapsed and was held to 156-9. “I don’t like dropping,” Zadran mentioned. “We gave our greatest within the discipline. However we wish to come again stronger within the subsequent recreation. It was a chaseable goal, a chaseable rating. However we did some errors within the center. We had begin within the batting, we had energy play, we gave them wickets within the center.”
Pathirana, taking part in his second T20, returned 4-24. Dasun Shanaka had 2-17 together with two wickets in the identical over.
Earlier, Sri Lanka misplaced in-form opening batter Pathum Nissanka on six when he slashed at Farooqi and was caught behind.
Sri Lanka was 55-4 when Hasaranga joined Sadeera Samarawickama and the pair added 72 runs for the fifth wicket. After Samarawickrama was run out for 25, Sri Lanka misplaced wickets rapidly to be bowled out with one over to spare.
Sri Lanka gained the one-off take a look at, and swept the one-day worldwide collection 3-0. The second of three T20s is on Monday.