(Cricket News) After claiming two early wickets and smashing 42 not out off 22 balls, Angelo Mathews helped Sri Lanka win the T20I series with a commanding 73-run victory in the second match. All of Sri Lanka’s top order players contributed: Pathum Nissanka scored 25 off 11, Kusal Mendis scored 23 off 14, Sadeera Samarawickrama played a solid innings, scoring 51 off 42, and Wanindu Hasaranga once again shown extreme aggression, scoring 22 off 9.
Afghanistan never really got off the ground in response. Despite a strong connection between Muhammad Nabi and Karim Janat, none of their top five players managed to break the 15, and they never seemed to have the pace for this chase. Throughout the first 17 overs, Afghanistan was dismissed for 115 runs.
Despite entering the game in the fifteenth over, Mathews did not erupt right away because it is not usually how he plays. After making four of his first nine deliveries, Mathews started hitting the boundary. He first went past Naveen-ul-Haq with a four over short off Fazalhaq Farooqi, then he blasted a four back in the following over.
When Azmatullah Omarzai bowled the 19th over, that is when he truly released the old finisher. He hit the opening ball off Omarzai over deep midwicket and then slammed the second over deep square leg.
The following delivery, an agitated Omarzai delivered an extremely short ball outside off, and Mathews punished him by hitting him over long-on. Even though Mohammad Nabi dropped him before he could hit his final six, which was again over the bowler’s head, Mathews still managed to score 33 runs off his final nine balls.
With the new ball, Mathews’ ability to provide inexpensive overs was one of his greatest assets in the legendary Sri Lanka T20 sides of the past. He was also incisive on this particular occasion. Hazratullah Zazai was nicking a lovely away-seamer behind him on the fifth ball.
He got Ibrahim Zadran for a prize wicket with the second ball of his subsequent over after the latter mishit a slower ball to mid-on. Even though he just had to bowl those two overs, he took two wickets and only gave up nine runs.
It never appeared as though the tourists were involved in the chase. Following Mathews’ early wickets, left-armer Binura Fernando started to make an impact. Later, Wanindu Hasaranga started to pose a threat.
Ultimately, Matheesha Pathirana turned into a threat with his lightning-fast bowling (he often bowled deliveries at over 150 km/h). Fernando, Hasaranga, Pathirana, and Mathews also claimed two wickets apiece. Dasun Shanaka made two fantastic catches while playing at cover.
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