Afghanistan played extremely well in their 3rd World Cup match as they nearly outplayed Sri Lanka at University Oval Grounds in Dunedin, New Zealand today. Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and put Afghanistan to bat. Afghanistan batsmen were far more disciplined today and there were useful contributions with the bat throughout the Afghan batting order. Asghar Stanikzai was the top scorer for Afghanistan with 54 runs off 57 balls. Samiullah Shenwari (38 runs off 70 balls), Mirwais Ashraf (28 runs off 32 balls), Javed Ahmadi (24 runs off 23 balls) and Mohammad Nabi (21 runs off 27 balls) were other major contributors with the bat as the Afghanistan team was bowled out for 232 runs in 49.4 overs. Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews took 3 wickets each while Lakmal took two.
Afghanistan bowlers started off extremely well as both Sri Lankan openers were out for golden ducks. In fact, Sri Lanka became only the second team in ODI history to have both the openers out for golden ducks in the same ODI. Former Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara also went out cheaply and was soon followed by Dimuth Karunaratne to the pavilion. However, former skipper Mahela Jayawardene and current skipper Angelo Mathews held the Sri Lankan innings together with a 126 runs partnership. Jayawardene got his first century of the 2015 World Cup while Mathews scored 44 runs. Thisara Perera contributed at the end with a quickfire 47 runs off 26 balls as Sri Lanka reached 236 runs in 48.2 overs. Hamid Hassan was the pick of the Afghan bowlers as he took 3 wickets for 45 runs. Dawlat Zadran and Shapoor Dadran were the other wicket takers as they took both the openers.
Mahela Jayawardena was th Man of the Match.
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