Sri Lanka dominate Day 1 versus Afghanistan in one-off Test
Sri Lanka dominated Day 1 versus Afghanistan in the one-off Test being held at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo. Afghanistan were bowled out for a paltry 198. Rahmat Shah was the lone half-centurion. For Lanka, Vishwa Fernando claimed four scalps. In response, Sri Lanka ended Day 1 at 80/0. Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka have looked solid. Here's more.
How did the Afghans fare?
Asitha Fernando dismissed Ibrahim Zadran off the second ball. Afghanistan stitched two fifty-plus stands threafter. Rahmat batted beautifully for his 91. However, his classy knock was ended by Sadeera Samarawickrama's brilliance behind the sticks. Noor Ali Zadran scored 31. Ikram Alikhil and Qais Ahmad got 20-plus scored but there wasn't much fight on offer from the lower order.
Rahmat Shah held the Afghanistan innings together
Rahmat was out in the middle in the first over of the match as Ibrahim was dismissed early. He stitched a 57-run partnership with Noor Ali to steady the ship. Later, he added 52 runs with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi before Afghanistan lost two quick wickets. Rahmat consolidated by adding 45 runs with Ikram Alikhil before the former was dismissed by Prabath Jayasuriya.
Highest run-scorer for Afghanistan in Test cricket
With his 17th run during this knock against the Lankan Lions, Rahmat surpassed Asghar Afghan's tally of 440 runs to become their top scorer in the format. He then went on to become the first Afghan player to smash 500-plus runs in Tests. Rahmat has amassed 515 runs at an average of 34.33. He owns four fifties and a ton.
A collective bowling effort
Vishwa Fernando played a key role with a spell worth 4/51 from 12 overs. Asitha was amongst the wickets too as he hardly gave away anything. He picked 3/24 from 14.4 overs. Spinner Jayasuriya bowled 25 overs. He managed 3/67.
A steady start from the Lankan openers
Lankan openers Karunaratne and Madushka saw out the day with a neat 80*-run stand. Madushka is unbeaten on 36 from 48 balls. Karunaratne has managed an unbeaten 42 from 37 balls with the help of 7 fours.
