Recent Match Report – Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Only Test 2023/24

Lunch Afghanistan 90 for 2 (Rahmat 48*, Noor Ali 31, Asitha 1-12) vs Sri Lanka

Vishwa Fernando was less impressive. His six overs went for 30, as he struggled to hold a tight line outside the stumps. It was a nervous first showing, too, from debutant Chamika Gunasekara, who was picked in this XI ahead of Kasun Rajitha. Gunasekara erred both in line and length outside the off stump, allowing Noor in particular to hit him square through the off side. He only bowled the one four-over spell, leaking 28 runs, though he did also occasionally threaten Noor’s outside edge in between the loose balls.

Where Noor – an experienced white-ball player, though he was playing his first Test – attacked from one end, crunching two fours off three Gunasekara balls early in the session, Rahmat was more content to tick along, though he hardly let scoring opportunities slip by either.

The surface not offering the kind of seam movement Sri Lanka perhaps expected, run-scoring was not especially difficult for either batter. Rahmat was especially good at punishing errors of length, running his first boundary down to third, before playing a crunching straight drive for four several overs later, then hitting the spin of Prabath Jayasuriya through square leg for another boundary. He also twice ventured down the pitch to launch Jayasuriya over his head as lunch approached. In defence, he was resolute.

Shahidi faced 23 balls for his 11 not out at lunch. Last over of the morning, he pulled Asitha straight into Nishan Madushka at short leg, but the shot was hit with enough force that Madushka was taking evasive action, and the deflection off his pads eluded him.