Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan in high-scoring encounter | Maqvi News

PALLEKELE   –  Pathum Nissanka’s record-breaking dou­ble century steered Sri Lanka to a com­fortable 42-run win over Afghanistan Friday in the opener of their three-match one-day international series at Pallekele. 

Set a stiff target of 382, Afghanistan reached 339 for six as Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai scored centu­ries after their team were reduced to 55- 5. Nissanka’s unbeaten 210 was Sri Lan­ka’s first ODI double hundred, breaking the island nation’s longstanding record highest score of 189 by Sanath Jayasuriya against India in 2000. It was also the joint fifth-highest individual score in ODIs. 

Sri Lanka’s 381-3 was also their big­gest total at the ground and the team’s fourth-highest overall. The unstoppable Nissanka’s knock included 20 fours and eight sixes from the 139 balls he faced in his first ODI since the World Cup. 

Afghanistan stumbled early in their daunting chase, with the tourists losing five wickets inside nine overs. Sri Lankan seamer Pramod Madushan cut through the top order for match figures of 4-75. Dushmantha Chameera took the other two wickets to fall but walked off the field halfway through his eighth over, ap­pearing to be suffering from back pain. Omarzai (149 not out) and Nabi (136) fought back aggressively with a 242-run stand for the sixth wicket, Afghanistan’s second highest for any wicket in ODIs, to briefly give Sri Lanka a fright. Omarzai’s maiden hundred came from a flicked six off pacer Janith Liyanage. 

Sri Lanka’s innings saw Avishka Fer­nando score 88 from as many deliveries before he was caught by Ibrahim Zadran at backward point in the 27th over. Skip­per Kusal Mendis was next in but failed to make an impact and fell for a 31-ball 16. Sadeera Samarawickrama hit 44 off 36 deliveries in his 120-run partnership with Nissanka. In the post-match talk, player of the match Pathum Nissanka said: “I tried to fix my mistakes (of getting fifties and not converting to 100s), so that’s what I did. It was a good pitch to bat on. The start Avishka and I got was the foundation for the score we eventually got.”