Kusal Mendis obtained his full-time captaincy tenure off to a rollicking begin as Sri Lanka defeated Afghanistan within the second ODI of the three-match sequence by a staggering margin of 155 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Batting first on the Pallekele Worldwide Cricket Stadium, the Lankan Lions obtained off to a poor begin after the vacationers removed each their openers and lowered them to 36 for the lack of two wickets in 8.3 overs.
Nevertheless, the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led facet didn’t seize the chance with each arms and Sri Lanka managed to claw their method again into the sport.
Fifties from 4 batters – Mendis (61 off 65 balls), Sadeera Samarawickrama (52 off 61 balls), Charith Asalanka (97* off 74 balls) and Janith Liyanage (50 off 48 balls put the hosts again into the motive force’s seat and adjusted the whole complexion of the sport.
Asalanka, particularly, was good with the bat in hand and racked up his runs at an unimaginable strike fee of 131.08 and propelled the house facet to 308.
Barring Azmatullah Omarzai, not one of the different Afghan bowlers managed to make an impression. Omarzai bagged a three-for and completed with figures of three/56 in his 10 overs.
In reply, Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah stored the guests within the hunt until the thirtieth over. They stitched a 97-run stand for the second wicket and exerted numerous stress on the Sri Lankan bowling assault.
Nevertheless, Asitha Fernando and Wanindu Hasaranga eliminated Zadran and Shah in a span of three overs and shut the door down on Afghanistan’s face.
Afghanistan’s batting collapsed like a home of playing cards and it was Hasaranga who engineered it. The wily leg-spinner completed because the decide of the Sri Lankan bowlers with figures of 4/27 in 6.5 overs.
Afghanistan finally obtained bundled out for 153.