Fazalhaq Farooqi and Co bring more glory to Afghanistan

For the second game running Afghanistan showcased exemplary calm in the chase, whittling down a sub-par target of 242 with ice-cold composure. A trio of fifties from Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai led the way, as Afghanistan leapfrogged Sri Lanka into fifth place on the points table with six points now on the board. Sri Lanka in the interim are basically no longer available for a semi-last compartment, expecting to basically win their next three games as a whole - against India, Bangladesh and New Zealand - to have any potential for success. For Afghanistan this was a success set up by their bowlers, who had smothered Sri Lanka's hitters on a deck that was in every practical sense, custom for batting, before their players ran down the objective with negligible quarrel. Fazalhaq Farooqi was the pick of the bundle finishing with figures of 4 for 34, yet the most captivating peculiarity of this game was that notwithstanding being managed the cost of a genuine surface with an absence of parallel development and insignificant turn, the two sides seldom scored at more than five an over. Their reasons anyway varied. While Sri Lanka could be scrutinized for a lawbreaker absence of aim, Afghanistan were essentially following the breakdown conceived for them by lead trainer Jonathan Trott. A few times throughout the span of the innings the transmission camera would dish over his goliath whiteboard with 10-over markers obviously spread out - "50 after 10", "100 after 20", and so forth. In any case, notwithstanding it being presented in as simple to-process a way as could be expected, such was the proficiency with which Afghanistan approached their work, Sri Lanka were weak to make any really meaningful difference either way. Sure Dilshan Madushanka followed one in on Rahmanullah Gurbaz off only the fourth wad of the pursuit to unstick center stump, however Afghanistan had their playbook and they followed it perfectly. In any event, when the wickets fell, Afghanistan rushed to snuff out any energy Sri Lanka could have been hoping to determine. Organizations of 73, 58 and 111 - between Ibrahim Zadran and Shah, Shah and Shahidi, and afterward Shahidi and Omarzai - shaped the spine of their pursuit. All through that work, limits were never pursued however possibly acknowledged when offered, as they were content to hang tight for free balls, seldom willing - or requiring - to face a challenge. Sri Lanka as far as concerns them looked an ever increasing number of broken as the innings wore on, running out of thoughts and steam on a surface that offered them nothing and against a group that were similarly unforgiving. However, the tone for this game had been set all along, as having been approached to bat first - a choice Kusal Mendis said he would have taken even had he won the throw - Sri Lanka would continue with a vulnerability prominently missing in their initial five matches. Maybe this was borne by this being Sri Lanka's most memorable genuine round of the competition where an opportunity of a semi-last spot - but impossible - was substantially inside handle. Hindrances had been shed in an impossible pursue against South Africa, and that forceful expectation had flowed through to their next game against Pakistan. Then, at that point, against Australia, the certainty kept on streaming before an uncommon breakdown brought them to an abrupt halt. Perhaps it was this that drove Sri Lanka into a more safe methodology, however proof of any shift didn't demonstrate impending in games against Netherlands and Britain, where their plan, or scarcity in that department, wasn't examined to any extraordinary degree with a couple of mediocre pursues calling more for alert than hostility. Against Afghanistan however, on a surface which had been portrayed as a "hitter's heaven" during the pitch report, the consideration of Dimuth Karunaratne sold out the trepidation that had been driving Sri Lanka's reasoning. Indeed, Kusal Perera hadn't had an effect beside his 78 against Australia, yet a surface, for example, this could have demonstrated definitively the panacea for his batting inconveniences. Rather Sri Lanka were left baffled as his substitution Karunaratne would play and miss a small bunch of shortish, wide conveyances on one or the other side of the wicket - uncommon free balls in any case close opening spells from Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Sri Lanka would wind up striking only four limits in the initial 10 overs. That powerplay would likewise see Sri Lanka end on 41 for 1, their least score after 10 overs in the sum of the competition. This articulated absence of aspiration would distress them all through an innings that main irregularly scratched the five an over mark, not to mention the sixes and sevens that have been more predominant across this competition. The reverence displayed to the Afghanistan bowlers through the center overs was mixed up no doubt when contrasted with how Sri Lanka had moved toward those initial two games against South Africa and Pakistan. What this implied was that when the quality conveyances that Afghanistan's bowlers are prepared to do unavoidably showed up, Sri Lanka's players would fall having neglected to really exploit the valuable open doors managed somewhere else. Karunaratne would be quick to go, caught lbw by one shooting in from Farooqi, the on-field not out call upset on audit. A 62-run stand among Nissanka and Mendis would follow, before Omarzai would jag one in from a back of a length outside off and cajole Nissanka to feather an edge through to Gurbaz behind the stumps - in this manner finishing his dash of fifty or more scores at four. Gurbaz was nominating for Ikram Alikhil, who was off the field getting treatment in the wake of having disengaged a finger on his right hand while keeping. Afghanistan 242 for 3 (Omarzai 73, Rahmat 62, Shahidi 58*) beat Sri Lanka 241 (Nissanka 46, Farooqi 4-34, Mujeeb 2-38) by seven wickets