Afghanistan tour of Sri Lanka, 2023

SL vs AFG, 3rd ODI

Preview

Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will cross swords for the 3rd match of the three-match ODI series. The game is scheduled for Wednesday, June 7 at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambantota. 

Afghanistan won the first match followed by Sri Lanka winning the second. Now it will be fascinating to see who gets their hand on the third and final match to win the series by a lead. 

Sri Lanka posted 268 runs riding on the backs of Asalanka’s 91 runs off 95 deliveries and Dhanajaya De Silva’s fabulous half-century coming down the order. Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad took two wickets each from the other end to restrict the run flow. The away side got away with a comfortable win as Ibrahim Zadran’s 98 runs along with Rahmat Shah’s 55 opened a smooth path for the other batters to finish off the game in just 46.5 overs. 

The home side came back stronger in the next game, same as the first match, they padded up first and posted 326 runs at just the loss of 5 wickets. Keeper Kushal Mendis smashed 78 runs off just 75 balls with Dimuth Karunaratne scoring 52 runs to keep up with the run rate. Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama also scored in the 40s to boost such a high-scoring total. Fareed Ahmed and Mohammad Nabi took two wickets each but failed to control eh flow of runs. In answer to that, Afghan batters felt the pressure of the huge target and were bundled up by Sri Lanka bowlers in just 192 runs with 7.5 overs to spare. Wanindu Hasaranga and Dhananjaya de Silva picked up three wickets each along with Dushmantha Chameera taking two to contribute to their team’s win. 

Match Details

Match: SL vs AFG, 3rd ODI, Afghanistan tour of Sri Lanka, 2023

Date: Wednesday, June 07, 2023

Time: 10:00 AM

Venue: Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota

Pitch and Weather Report

The pitch in Hambantota is not good for batters. Spinners will be the game changers on this ground as the surface tends to slow down as the match progresses. The captain winning the toss will probably choose to bowl first on the slow pitch and restrict the opponents to a low-scoring total.  

Rain is not likely to affect the match. However, there will be cloud cover with a maximum temperature of 32 degrees Celsius.

SL vs AFG Squads

SL: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Angelo Mathews, Dushan Hemantha, Lahiru Kumara, Matheesha Pathirana, Chamika Karunaratne

AFG: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Abdul Rahman, Riaz Hassan, Ikram Alikhil

SL vs. AFG Probable Playing XIs

SL: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha

AFG:  Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik

Match Prediction

The third match will be crucial for both sides. Also, they both are looking strong, it’s just that Sri Lanka will get the home advantage. Thus we expect Sri Lanka to win the match after a tough battle with the Afghan side. 

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