The openers raced alone with an 80-run unbroken stand after the bowlers put Sri Lanka to take the upper hand on Day 1 of the historical, first-ever Test match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, which commenced today (2nd February) at the Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds in Colombo.
Dhananjaya De Silva, who is on his Test Captaincy debut, decided to bowl first after winning the toss, as promising pacer Chamika Gunasekara made his Test debut, becoming 165th Test Cap for Sri Lanka.
The Afghans, who are playing just their eighth match in the longest format, also brought four debutantes – Noor Ali Zadran, Zia-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Safi and Naveed Zadran.
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva(c), Sadeera Samarawickrama(w), Chamika Gunasekara, Prabath Jayasuriya, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Ibrahim Zadran, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Nasir Jamal, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Zia-ur-Rehman, Qais Ahmad, Nijat Masood, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Naveed Zadran
The opening stand between Ibrahim Zadran and Noor Ali Zadran only lasted for two deliveries as Asitha Fernando trapped Ibrahim LBW for a second-ball duck. Vishwa Fernando and Chamika Gunasekara were not consistent with the new ball, which allowed Noor Ali and Rahmat Shah to break free.
As a result, they put on a half-century stand for the second wicket, and the debutant batted well during this period before miscuing a pull shot when he was on 31, as Vishwa held on to the catch off his own bowling. The visitors managed to own the first session, adding 90 runs after losing 2 wickets in 25 overs.
Shah shared another fifty partnership with the Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, but Afghanistan lost two wickets in two overs in the post-lunch session. Vishwa made the breakthrough once again with the wicket of Shahidi before Prabath Jayasuriya castled Nasir Jamal for a duck, which reduced the visitors to 110/4.
The experienced Shah looked well set for a hundred, but there was terrific anticipation from the keeper Sadeera Samarawickrama, who moved to his left quickly when the batter played a sweep off Jayasuriya and caught with his left glove before holding onto it with both hands.
Unfortunately, the former fell 9 runs short of his second Test century after facing off 139 balls while hitting 13 boundaries. Vishwa was to be the main threat for the Afghans as he struck for the fourth time, and straightaway after the tea break, got rid of keeper-batter Ikram Ali Khil courtesy Nishan Madushka’s brilliant catch at gully.
The Lankan bowlers cleaned up the tail to close out the innings as the visitors were blown away for 198, losing the last 8 wickets for a mere 89 runs, although they were 109/2 at one stage. On the bowling front, Vishwa was the pick of them, finishing with 4/51, while Asitha and Jayasuriya scalped three apiece.
In response, the islanders got off to an excellent start with the bat when Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka piled on the runs against an inexperienced bowling line up of Afghanistan. At the end of the opening day, the hosts were on 80/0 in just 14 overs as they were still trailing 118 runs with Karunaratne and Madushka remaining not out on 42 & 36, respectively.
Stay in touch with Sri Lanka’s No. 1 Sports Channel – ThePapare, for all the latest updates about Afghanistan Tour of Sri Lanka 2024.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ibrahim Zadran | lbw b Asitha Fernando | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Noor Ali Zadran | c & b Vishwa Fernando | 31 | 46 | 5 | 0 | 67.39 |
| Rahmat Shah | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Prabath Jayasuriya | 91 | 139 | 13 | 0 | 65.47 |
| Hashmatullah Shahidi | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Vishwa Fernando | 17 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 37.78 |
| Nasir Jamal | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ikram Alikhil | c Nuwanidu Fernando b Vishwa Fernando | 21 | 50 | 3 | 0 | 42.00 |
| Qais Ahmed | lbw b Prabath Jayasuriya | 21 | 44 | 1 | 1 | 47.73 |
| Zia-ur-Rehman | lbw b Vishwa Fernando | 4 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 36.36 |
| Nijat Masood | c & b Asitha Fernando | 12 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 |
| Naveed Zadran | not out | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Mohammad Saleem | b Asitha Fernando | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 1 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 198/10 (62.4 Overs, RR: 3.16) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 14.4 | 1 | 24 | 3 | 1.67 | |
| Vishwa Fernando | 12 | 1 | 51 | 4 | 4.25 | |
| Chamika Gunasekara | 9 | 1 | 50 | 0 | 5.56 | |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 25 | 7 | 67 | 3 | 2.68 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nishan Madushka | c Noor Ali Zadran b Naveed Zadran | 37 | 53 | 6 | 0 | 69.81 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Ibrahim Zadran b Qais Ahmed | 77 | 72 | 12 | 0 | 106.94 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Zia-ur-Rehman b Nijat Masood | 10 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 45.45 |
| Angelo Mathews | hit-wicket b Qais Ahmed | 141 | 259 | 14 | 3 | 54.44 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Ikram Alikhil b Naveed Zadran | 107 | 181 | 10 | 1 | 59.12 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | run out (Hashmatullah Shahidi) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | c Rahmat Shah b Naveed Zadran | 27 | 33 | 4 | 1 | 81.82 |
| Chamika Gunasekara | retired | 16 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 59.26 |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | b Naveed Zadran | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Vishwa Fernando | not out | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Asitha Fernando | b Nijat Masood | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 22 (b 5 , lb 9 , nb 3, w 5, pen 0) |
| Total | 439/10 (109.2 Overs, RR: 4.02) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nijat Masood | 19.2 | 3 | 76 | 2 | 3.96 | |
| Mohammad Saleem | 12.1 | 0 | 57 | 0 | 4.71 | |
| Naveed Zadran | 22.5 | 4 | 83 | 4 | 3.69 | |
| Zia-ur-Rehman | 28 | 2 | 90 | 0 | 3.21 | |
| Qais Ahmed | 22 | 2 | 98 | 2 | 4.45 | |
| Rahmat Shah | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3.33 | |
| Hashmatullah Shahidi | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5.50 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ibrahim Zadran | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 114 | 259 | 12 | 0 | 44.02 |
| Noor Ali Zadran | lbw b Asitha Fernando | 47 | 136 | 5 | 0 | 34.56 |
| Rahmat Shah | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Kasun Rajitha | 54 | 119 | 5 | 0 | 45.38 |
| Hashmatullah Shahidi | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Prabath Jayasuriya | 18 | 37 | 3 | 0 | 48.65 |
| Nasir Jamal | not out | 41 | 67 | 5 | 1 | 61.19 |
| Ikram Alikhil | c Kusal Mendis b Asitha Fernando | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Qais Ahmed | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Prabath Jayasuriya | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Zia-ur-Rehman | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Naveed Zadran | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 4 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Nijat Masood | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Kasun Rajitha | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Mohammad Saleem | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Asitha Fernando | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 22.22 |
| Extras | 14 (b 1 , lb 6 , nb 1, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 296/10 (112.3 Overs, RR: 2.63) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vishwa Fernando | 14 | 3 | 37 | 0 | 2.64 | |
| Asitha Fernando | 21.3 | 2 | 63 | 3 | 2.96 | |
| Kasun Rajitha | 20 | 5 | 59 | 2 | 2.95 | |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 47 | 10 | 107 | 5 | 2.28 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 10 | 1 | 23 | 0 | 2.30 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimuth Karunaratne | not out | 32 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 145.45 |
| Nishan Madushka | not out | 22 | 23 | 4 | 0 | 95.65 |
| Extras | 2 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 56/0 (7.2 Overs, RR: 7.64) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zia-ur-Rehman | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 4.00 | |
| Naveed Zadran | 3 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 10.00 | |
| Nijat Masood | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Qais Ahmed | 0.2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 40.00 | |
 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds in Colombo.){kind=link}