Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan en route to his unbeaten 83 against Afghanistan in their World T20 Super 10 match in Kolkata on Thursday. (Photo: AP)
Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan en route to his unbeaten 83 against Afghanistan in their World T20 Super 10 match in Kolkata on Thursday. (Photo: AP)
Afghanistan put up a brave fight but Sri Lanka, guided by the experienced Tillakaratne Dilshan, had enough in the tank to get across the line by six wickets with some ease in their Group 1 World T20 Super 10 game at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Chasing 154, the Lankans were paced to the target by a cool display from their most seasoned campaigner, who was unbeaten on 83 (56b, 8x4, 3x6) and their captain Angelo Mathews (21 not out, 10b, 3x4, 1x6).
Dilshan, 39, bided his time even as four wickets fell at the other end and fittingly, hit the winning boundary with seven balls to go as the Afghans just could not marry enthusiasm to ability when it mattered the most.
Earlier, Asghar Stanikzai led from the front with a half century as Afghanistan overcame a slow start to post a challenging 153/7 against defending champions.
The Sri Lankans stifled Afghanistan’s top order by reducing them to 51/4 before Stanikzai (62 off 47 balls) and Samiullah Shenwari (31, 14b) rebuilt the innings.
The duo put on 61 off 33 balls for the fifth wicket and Stanikzai was at his explosive best towards the later stages, hitting Thisara Perera’s widish full length delivery over long on ina manner reminiscent of India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
After Stanikzai’s departure, left-hander Najibullah Zardan also had some meaty blows with a four and a six in the last over. Afghanistan added 59 runs from the last five overs to set up a competitive total.
Scoreboard Afghanistan: M. Shahzad c Chameera b Mathews 8, N. Zadran b Herath 20, A. Stanikzai c Chandimal b Perera 62, K. Sadiq c Chandimal b Perera 0, M. Nabi lbw b Herath 3, S. Shenwari c Perera b Kulasekara 31, Shafiqullah c Thirimanne b Perera 5, D. Zadran (not out) 5, N. Zadran (not out) 12. Extras: (lb1, w6) 7. Total: (for 7 wkts, in 20 overs) 153. FoW: 1-12, 2-44, 3-46, 4-51, 5-112, 6-132, 7-136. Bowling: A. Mathews 3-0-17-1 (2w), N. Kulasekara 4-0-43-1 (1w), Chameera 4-0-19-0 (2w), Herath 4-0-24-2 (1w), Perera 4-0-33-3, Siriwardana 1-0-16-0.
Sri Lanka: D. Chandimal c Shenwari b Nabi 18, T. Dilshan (not out) 83, L. Thirimanne b Khan 6, T. Perera (run out) 12, C. Kapugedera (run out) 10, A. Mathews (not out) 21. Extras: (b 4, w 1) 4. Total: (for 4 wkts, in 18.5 overs) 155. FoW: 1-41, 2-58, 3-85, 4-113 Bowling: Sadiq 2-0-21-0, Hassan 3.5-0-34-0, Zadran 3-0-31-0 (1w), Nabi 4-1-25-1, Khan 4-0-27-1, Shenwari 2-0-9-0
