[Watch] Sadeera Samarawickrama pulls off incredible catch behind the stumps to dismiss Rahmat Shah in SL vs AFG one-off Test
Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Sadeera Samarawickrama pulled off an incredible heads-up play behind the stumps to dismiss Rahmat Shah in the one-off Test against Afghanistan at Colombo.
After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, the Lankans removed Ibrahim Zadran in the second ball of the innings. Despite picking up wickets at regular intervals, Sri Lanka met with defiance in the form of Rahmat Shah, who scored a fluent half-century.
However, the right-handed batter fell nine runs short of his second Test ton, thanks to Samarawickrama's brilliance off the bowling of Prabath Jayasuriya. Shah shaped to play a paddle sweep when an alert Samarawickrama quickly moved to his left.
Despite the batter making contact with his sweep, the Sri Lankan gloveman caught the ball with his left glove near his shin before safely holding on to it with both hands.
The sensational effort ended a classy knock of 91 from Rahmat Shah to leave Afghanistan struggling at 155/5 in the 46th over.
Here is a video of the catch from Samarawickrama:
Samarawickrama has become a vital cog in Sri Lanka's ranks, scoring over 1,000 runs across formats last year. The 28-year-old was one of the few shining lights in a dismal 2023 World Cup campaign for Sri Lanka, scoring 373 runs at an average of 53.28 and a strike rate of 102.19.
Despite his best efforts, Sri Lanka finished second to bottom on the points table with only two wins in nine outings.
Sri Lanka in control in first-ever Test meeting against Afghanistan
Playing their first Test since the 0-2 hammering against Pakistan in July last year, Sri Lanka have begun impressively in the one-off Test against Afghanistan. In his first Test as captain, Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and bowled first to utilize the early morning assistance.
His pacers, Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando, did not disappoint, picking up a wicket each inside the first 15 overs. The former went on to pick up three other wickets to rattle the Afghan batters and stands on excellent figures of 4/51 in 12 overs.
Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya made his presence felt with two wickets to leave Afghanistan reeling at 187/7 in 56 overs.
The two teams are meeting in the red-ball format for the first time, and the match is only Afghanistan's eighth in Tests. They have won two of their six Test series against Ireland and Bangladesh by 1-0 margins in 2019.