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With that, we come to the end of our coverage of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup for the day. The Sri Lankan team will hop onto the bus and travel 140-odd kilometres to take on India on the 2nd of November at Mumbai, while Afghanistan make their way up north to face the Netherlands at Lucknow. The Pakistan-Bangladesh rivalry will be re-ignited as both teams face off against each other at the Eden Gardens tomorrow. Join us right here on Sportskeeda for our live coverage of the same - it's going to be a spicy one, for sure! This is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of Arya for the day. Good night - see you tomorrow!
With a third win in 6 games, Afghanistan close in right behind Australia's tail. They have Netherlands, Australia and South Africa to play next. The morale in their ranks will be sky high at the moment - Afghanistan are turning out to be dark horses in the truest sense in the 2023 World Cup! The success they've had while chasing against Pakistan, and Sri Lanka today, has provided them with a new identity altogether, something that was missing over the previous couple of editions. It's a long way back for Sri Lanka from here - having conceded defeat today, they face a red-hot Indian side on home soil four days later. The absence of a few key players, Wanindu Hasaranga in particular, have hampered them to no end.
Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan captain): Quite happy, I'm proud of the team the way we performed in all three departments. The game against Pakistan gave us a lot of confidence and belief that we can chase any kind of target. We started well in every aspect, we were very professional in the run-chase. The support staff is always positive, we work very hard before coming into the World Cup. They work really hard and provide us with a lot of confidence, especially Jonathan, he's always positive. Before the Pakistan game, he told me something that changed my mindset a lot. As a captain, you should lead from the front. That's what I'm trying. In the last game and today as well, I'm happy to have finished the game off. I'll be happy to do so going ahead. Rashid Khan is a very special player, the best in the world. Very energetic guy, and his energy rubs off on the team. I congratulate our nation on the win, and thank all the Indian supporters for coming to the ground to cheer for us.
Kusal Mendis (Sri Lanka captain): Yeah we were a little bit short of runs. 240 wasn't enough on this pitch. We needed to score atleast 280-300. Our bowlers started really well in the first 10 overs. Dew came in and made things more difficult. There was too much dew and it gets difficult. The ball was coming onto the bat as the pitch got better. Madushanka has done really well, he is very young. Going forward he will do really well.
Fazalhaq Farooqi (Player of the Match): Thanks to god for the performance. It's good that we have three wins in the tournament and happy to contribute to the win. I was looking for swing in the first few balls but I realised there was no swing I went back to hitting the right areas and that was the plan all through the day and that is how I got all the success. We have given so many runs in the last over, we have been working really hard in the next trying to bowl well in the death overs. I tried to stick to my basics and try and bowl most of the variations as possible. (Translated by Rashid Khan)
Match summary:
Afghanistan win by 7 wickets with 28 balls to spare
The Afghanistan cricket team take a lap of honour, expressing their gratitude for the immense support they received over the course of the day. To think they won just one World Cup game prior to the 2023 edition....Afghanistan, having registered a third victory, are actually in contention for a spot in the semi-finals, ahead of...(checks list) Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Netherlands and Bangladesh, and have played a part in eliminating England with a win early on in the tournament!
The maturity shown from their batters over the course of the run-chase was nothing short of commendable. A white-board in their dressing room read 50 in 10, 100 in 20, 150 in 30, 200 in 40, and then 242, perfectly breaking the target down for them. Their batters executed the plan to perfection - Hashmatullah Shahidi, as always, was the glue that held the run-chase together, first with Rahmat Shah, and then with Azmatullah Omarzai as the batters around him looked to score freely.
The fact that the wicket was an absolute belter was of utmost aid to the Afghans. Although there was that extra lift off the deck every now and then, particularly from the likes of Kasun Rajitha and Dushmantha Chameera later on, the former just couldn't hit the right line and length more often, releasing any sort of pressure he managed to pile on the batters. Kusal Mendis' bowling changes were questionable as well - he kept using bowlers suited to containing runs at stages where Sri Lanka yearned for breakthroughs.
Madushanka had the Lankans up and about first over by bending one back in and past Rahmanullah Gurbaz's defence, knocking his middle stump out. Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah then went on to stitch a really aesthetically pleasing partnership, laced with elegant, sumptuous stroke-play, and over the course of it, laying the foundation for the middle-order.
Ibrahim got out to a rather loose stroke, but Rahmat Shah was well in by then. He, along with Hashmatullah Shahidi, steadied the ship further, steering Afghanistan past three figures. It was just about nurdling the ball around for ones and twos, and that remained the case when Azmatullah joined Shahidi in the middle. Azmatullah took a while to get his eye in, and once he did, the boundaries began to flow. The required rate never went past 6, Afghanistan were always under control of the chase, and finished it with time to spare!
And.....there you have it! Omarzai supports a sheepish grin - his hands over his head as the fielder at deep mid wicket - Asalanka - spilled a sitter to hand Afghanistan a hard-fought win - their third in this World Cup!
45.2 Dushmantha Chameera to Azmatullah Omarzai, Dropped and that should be it for Afghanistan. A significant win for them and they move to 5th in the table and keeps hope of a semi-final berth alive. Was a slower fuller-length delivery, Omarzai tries to finish it off in style, swings across the line and gets it from the cue end of the bat, carries all the way to Charith Asalanka at deep square leg but he spills that allowing the batters to roll through for the run required to seal the victory.
45.1 Dushmantha Chameera to Hashmatullah Shahidi, eases away the fuller one around off past the point region and takes a single. Just one run away from another famous victory.
Shahidi gets to 2,000 One Day International runs with that single! It's been a day of milestones for Afghanistan as they close in on a second successive win in the 2023 Men's Cricket World Cup!
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Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
