Pune: Rahmat Shah, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai slammed well-timed 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 in sixth spot with four points from six matches.
Following their breathtaking 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 half-century 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.
Dushmantha Chameera, brought into the side as a replacement for the injured Lahiru Kumara, tried to extract pace from the wicket but Zadran was in sublime form as he whipped one from the paceman to deep square leg with some lovely wrist work.
Chameera and spinner Maheesh Theekshana managed to slow down Afghanistan's chase between the 11th and 16th overs by not conceding a single boundary.
As the pressure began to build, Madushanka dug in a bouncer which rose sharply and flew from Zadran's bat to deep third man, where Dimuth Karunaratne pouched it easily.
Rahmat and Shahidi then put their heads together to do the repair job, with the former doing the bulk of the scoring in the 58-run stand for the third wicket.
Luck ran out for Rahmat soon after he had completed his 25th ODI half-century. After the batting stalwart was grassed at backward point by Sadeera Samarawickrama off the previous delivery from Kasun Rajitha in the 28th over, Rahmat ended up getting a leading edge that popped up to Karunaratne at mid-on.
However, Shahidi and Omarzai's partnership saw Afghanistan achieve another memorable victory in the World Cup. Earlier, Afghanistan pacer Farooqi played a pivotal role in demolishing Sri Lanka on an easy-paced pitch.
While left-armer Farooqi's fiery pace made life difficult for the rivals, Afghanistan spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2/38) and Rashid Khan (1/50) showed the right intent and energy to create pressure and restrict in-form batters like Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama.
After being asked to bat first, Lankan batting never got going as Farooqi, Mujeeb and Rashid, who was playing his 100th ODI, bowled tight lengths and varied pace despite them getting little assistance from the MCA Stadium surface that played true through the 50 overs.
While opener Nissanka batted with confidence and kept the scoreboard ticking, wasting no opportunity to take singles and twos while scoring an occasional boundary, his partner Dimuth Karunaratne, who replaced Kusal Perera in the playing XI, looked tentative and missed the line on a few occasions.
Karunaratne was finally done in by a Farooqi delivery that darted in and led to a vociferous lbw appeal. Though the umpire wasn't convinced, the review indicated otherwise and Karunaratne walked back with the score reading 22 for 1.
Nissanka though continued from where he had left off against England, where he had scored a polished unbeaten 77. But the aggression seemed missing on this day as he dealt mostly in ones and twos with skipper Kusal Mendis.
Nissanka tried to play a back-of-length delivery outside off from Omarzai towards backward point but the ball took the thinnest of edges en route wicketkeeper Gurbaz.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka: 241 all out in 49.3 overs (Pathum Nissanka 46; Fazalhaq Farooqi 4/34)
Afghanistan: 242 for 3 in 45.2 overs (Rahmat Shah 62, Hashmatullah Shahidi 58 not out, Azmat Omarzai 73 not out) by 7 wickets.
Man of the match: Fazalhaq Farooqi
