(Cricket News) Pathum Nissanka’s historic double ton ensured that Sri Lanka withstood a vigorous counterattack by Afghanistan to record a 42-run victory in the first ODI at Pallekele and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

That Afghanistan even came close was owing to a record 242-run stand between Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi, the second-highest sixth-wicket stand in ODI history. Omarzai finished with a 115-ball 149, while Nabi scored 136 off 130. Despite this setback, Afghanistan could only look forward to what might have been had their top order made a little more substantial contribution.

With figures of 4 for 75, Pramod Madushan caused the most damage, bowling out three of Afghanistan’s top four players inside the first powerplay. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was right-handed, and Hashmatullah Shahidi, who was left-handed, were both removed by in-duckers.

Madushan was also skilled at moving the ball both ways, either through the air or off the surface.
However, that was the beginning of the comeback, as Omarzai and Nabi decided early on to play as deep into the game as possible.

Although it was obvious that they could not take unnecessary risks, they found boundaries to ensure that the run rate never got out of control. Their scoring rate did not exceed six an over until the 36th over, at which point the required rate was approaching 12 an over. By the 40th over, 137 needed off 60 deliveries, a daunting task that was contextualized by the fact that Sri Lanka had struck 120 in the same time frame.

The batting effort by the Lankans, especially the remarkable Nissanka, whose 210 had come off just 139 deliveries, was also put into perspective by the asking rate, which ultimately proved to be too much.

Avishka Fernando, at run-a-ball 88, was the next highest scorer, as he and Nissanka put on a 182-run opening stand – Sri Lanka’s first-century opening stand in nine innings and just the third to hit double digits in that period. But that was just the beginning of Afghanistan’s misery.
Conditions proved perfect for batting, and after a quiet start in the first five overs in which just 22 runs were scored, Nissanka started to let loose.

There was a quiet period through the middle overs when Nabi was rifling through his overs, but at the start and the end the Afghan bowlers were at Nissanka’s mercy. The visitors, who had chosen to go with a four-strong seam attack, were left to lament their decision to bowl first after winning the toss.

The first to feel the heat was Omarzai, who was caught for two consecutive boundaries through midwicket and then cover. Two overs later, Fareed Ahmad was caught for 19, which included two fours and a six, the latter off a free hit.

Ahmad went for another 17 in his next over, with Avishka doing the most of the damage, and Sri Lanka raced to 90 by the end of the 10th over. From that point on, the scoring tapered off, with the occasional burst of boundaries serving to keep the scoring rate around the seven an over mark. It took a blazing grab from Hashmatullah Shahidi at backward point to end the opening stand.

The entry of Sadeera Samarawickrama, midway through the 36th over, however, was the catalyst for Sri Lanka to change gears as his ability to rotate strike and find boundaries dovetailed perfectly with Nissanka, who was beginning to see the ball bigger with every stroke.

Their stand of 121 came off just 71 deliveries and scaled up in the final 10 overs. Of the 120 runs ransacked in this period Nissanka alone accounted for 76. Kusal Mendis’ entry saw more of the same, as he scrambled around for a 31-ball 16 before a miscued shot after coming down the track.

After reaching his century with a single edged to deep cover, he reached his 150 with a double past backward point. However, these significant events were met with hostility; Fazalhaq Farooqi was clobbered down the ground, flicked over square leg, heaved over deep midwicket, and paddled behind square. When all other options were exhausted, Afghanistan turned back to Fareed, but Nissanka refused to escape.

Nissanka reached his double ton in the last over after failing to dismiss a series of wide Fareed yorkers two overs earlier. Two balls later, he swung one high over square leg and then crashed a drive to deep extra cover to end the innings. It was a knock worthy of winning any game, and in the end, it proved to be successful.

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