Feisty Afghans thrash Lanka Lions in style

Pune: Rhmat Shah, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai slammed welltimed half-centuries to complement the superb bowling effort of pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi as Afghanistan defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their World Cup match here on Monday.

Chasing 242 for victory, Afghanistan went past the target in 45.2 overs for the loss of three wickets.

A 111- run partnership between Shahidi (58 not out) and Azmatullah (73 not out) for the unbroken fourth wicket stand formed the cornerstone of the big win, their third in this tournament.

The result also helped them climb to fifth place on the table with six points and with three more matches remaining the Afghans will dream of making a run for the semifinals.

Sri Lanka remained on sixth spot with four points from six matches. Following their breatht a king performances against England and Pakistan, Afghanistan went into the match against Sri Lanka as slight favourites and pacer Farooqi made a huge statement by unleashing his full fury to grab four wickets for 34 runs to demolish the Islanders for 241 runs.

Rahmat (62), Shahidi and Azmatullah then played with determination to help their side reach the target. Despite the early dismissal of his opening partner Rahmanullah Gurbaz, dismissed by left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka for a duck, Ibrahim Zadran (39) steadied the innings during a 72-run second wicket stand with Rahmat.

The dangerous Madushanka troubled Afghanistan with a superb display of swing bowling and gave his side the perfect start when his inswinger crashed into the middle-stump of dangerous opener Gurbaz.

The battle-hardened Afghanistan though were not overly rattled by the early shock and kept dispatching the loose deliveries to the ropes, though most of their runs came in singles and twos.

Zadran and No. 3 Rahmat began the rebuilding process, sewing up a halfcentury partnership, which saw the team overcoming the early jolt. Zadran was the more aggressive of the two and made his intentions clear when he dispatched Madushanka for a sweetly-timed boundary through the covers in the third over.

A quality back-foot drive off all-rounder Angelo Mathews through extra cover in the seventh over had class written all over it.