It was a sad end to Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews’ iconic innings on Day 2 of the only Test match against Afghanistan. Sri Lanka ended the day at 410/6 after Mathews fell to Qais Ahmad by hitting his stumps. Mathews played brilliantly throughout his innings and smashed a brilliantly century. However, on the 2nd ball of the 102nd over, Mathews ended up hitting the stumps with his bat while trying to sweep Qais Ahmad.
Angelo Mathews also added 232 runs from 381 balls along with Dinesh Chandimal for the fourth wicket. Chandimal also smashed a century and played an innings of 107 runs from 181 balls. The Sri Lankan team has been dominant over Afghanistan in the only Test and currently are in the driver’s seat of the game. This was Chandimal’s second Test ton in the last seven Tests. His last century came against Ireland in Galle.
Watch – Angelo Mathews ends his innings due to his own mistake
Angelo Mathew’s with a four and bowled pic.twitter.com/IZITIq1Pmy
— Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber) February 3, 2024
Batting first on Day 2, Sri Lanka lost their first wicket for ninety runs early on when Naveed Zadran dismissed Nishan Madushka for 37 runs off 53 balls. Kusal Mendis, who fell against Nijat Masood and scored 10 runs off 22 balls, was also unable to accomplish anything. Following the loss of two wickets in quick succession, Dimuth Karunaratne reached his half-century and executed a captain’s knock.
But Qais Ahmed put an end to Dimuth Karunaratne’s stay at the crease, as he was dismissed for 77 runs off of 72 balls. Together with Angelo Mathews, Karunaratne had already scored 33 runs off 48 balls for the third wicket. After Dinesh Chandimal was dismissed by Naveed Zadran, Dhananjaya de Silva also got out for a golden duck due to a run-out by Hasmatullah Shahidi.
Throughout the second day of the one-off Test match, the Sri Lankan batters whacked the Afghanistan bowlers all over the place since they had no idea what to do. Until the end of Day 2, Qais Ahmad and Naveed Zadran both took two wickets, while Nijat Masood took one.
The Afghanistani team was wrapped up for 198 runs in their first innings as Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando, and Prabath Jayasuriya became the major reason behind their struggle. Vishwa picked 4 wickets whereas Asitha and Jayasuriya ended up with 3 wickets apiece.
Rahmat Shah was the only shining aspect of the Afghanistan batting lineup as he played an innings of 91 runs from 139 balls. No other Afghani batsman was able to stay at the crease for long and showcased a flop batting performance.
Angelo Mathews has been one of the absolute legends of the Sri Lankan cricket team but was kept away from the team for a long time by the selectors. However, Mathews returned to the team in the ODI World Cup 2023 and proved his class yet again in international cricket. On the other hand, Dinesh Chandimal has been a regular part of the Sri Lankan Test team for a long time and has a lot of experience.
The Sri Lankan team have not been in the best of the forms from the past few years but now their recent performance has ensured a decent return to international cricket.
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