ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 (Match 7): Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka – Statistical Highlights

During the match 7 of the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup on Tuesday (4th June), Sri Lanka snatched a thrilling 34-run victory against Afghanistan at Sophia Gardens (Cardiff).

In that rain-interrupted game, Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib decided to field first. The rain interrupted the first innings of the match when Sri Lanka was struggling on 182/8 in 33 overs. Later, this match was reduced to 41-overs per side and Sri Lanka lost their all wickets for just 201 runs (36.5 overs).

However, according to the DLS method, Afghanistan had to chase 187 runs in 41 overs. In reply, Afghanistan was bundled out for just 152 runs (32.4 overs).

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Brief Scores (41-overs per side): Sri Lanka – 201 in 36.5 overs (Kusal Perera 78, Dimuth Karunaratne 30; Mohammad Nabi 4/30)

Afghanistan (revised target 187 runs in 41 overs) – 152 in 32.4 overs (Najibullah Zadran 43, Hazratullah Zazai 30; Nuwan Pradeep 4/31)

Result – Sri Lanka won by 34 runs (DLS method)

Here are some of the statistical highlights of the match:

Teams’ stats

Sri Lanka

i) Sri Lanka managed to score just 57 runs for their last eight wickets. It is their lowest addition for the last eight wickets in a Cricket World Cup match. Their previous lowest record happened during their match against West Indies at Manchester on 7th June 1975 where Sri Lanka only added 81 runs for the last eight wickets.

ii) For the fourth time in Cricket World Cup history, Sri Lankan pacers combinedly took nine wickets in a match. Sri Lankan pacers have never combinedly taken all the ten wickets in a CWC match.

iii) Sri Lanka successfully defended the revised target of 187 runs which is the lowest successful defended target for Sri Lanka in a Cricket World Cup match history. Sri Lanka’s previous record was successfully defending the target of 229 runs against West Indies at Cape Town on 28th February 2003.

Afghanistan

i) While Afghanistan was bundled out for just 152 runs, it is their second lowest completed total in the Cricket World Cup history. Their lowest completed total in CWC history is 142 (37.3 overs) against Australia at Perth on 4th March 2015.

Read More: ICC World Cup 2019: Twitter Reacts as Sri Lanka Beats Afghanistan by 34 Runs

Players’ stats

Sri Lanka

i) Playing 100th ODI innings, Lahiru Thirimanne completed his 3,000 ODI runs as he has scored 3,019 runs in ODI career. Lahiru Thirimanne is the third fastest Sri Lankan batsman to complete 3,000 ODI runs. The top two fastest Sri Lankan batsmen in this list are Upul Tharanga (in 93 matches) and Marvan Atapattu (in 94 matches).

ii) By the end of this match, Lasith Malinga has taken 325 ODI wickets and becomes the 10th most wicket-taker in ODI history.

Top ten most ODI wicket-takers at present

Afghanistan

i) Rashid Khan becomes the seventh Afghanistan cricketer to play 100 international matches. The other Afghan players to achieve this feat are Mohammad Nabi (184 matches), Asghar Afghan (163 matches), Mohammad Shahzad (151 matches), Samiullah Shinwari (143 matches), Dawlat Zadran (112 matches) and Najibullah Zadran (108 matches).

ii) Mohammad Nabi had the bowling figures of 9-0-30-4, which are the best bowling figures in an innings by an Afghanistan bowler in Cricket World Cup history. Their previous record holder was Shapoor Zadran with the bowling figures of 10-1-38-4 against Scotland at Dunedin on 26th February 2015.