Sri Lanka ‘A’ team led by Sahan Arachchige is ready to play second Unofficial ODI against Afghanistan ‘A ‘ led by Ikram Alikhil at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium Hambantota today.
After winning the first ODI on Sunday Sri Lanka A team came to the game with more confidence but the way Afghans battled until the end Sri Lanka ‘A’ can’t take lightly this game. Both side batters dominated the first game and Afghan fast bowlers are better than Sri Lanka pacemen. The opener Nishan Madushka (73) and deputy skipper Nuwanidu Fernando (83) and Kamil Mishara (48) batted really well in the first game.
Two Afghan pacemen Mohammed Saleem 3 for 63 and Bilal Sami 4 for 51 shared seven wickets among them while experienced Qais Ahmed got only one wicket and Sri Lanka mostly depend on their spinners and skipper Sahan Arachchige the off spinner led from the front taking 3 for 40 in his ten overs spell.
Young Wanuja Sahan and Dushan Hementha two former Peterites bowled tidy spells and Nuwanidu Fernando also expected to bowl as a part timer and Sri Lanka once again is expected to get full advantage from the spinners
Especially young paceman Chamika Gunasekara was not up to his usual rhythm while he was punished by Afghan top order and Gunasekara conceded 77 runs in his 8 over spell while Mohamed Shiraz bowled only six overs giving away 29 runs and experienced Chamika Karunaratne also gave away 49 runs in his 8 over spell and today Sri Lanka pacemen should dive a better display to get early breakthrough.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ coach Avishka Gunawardena has new plans for each game but he said we wanted to get good exposure and produce good replacement which is the aim of the ‘A’ team series. The Hambantota wicket is good for the batters and it was evident during first game.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ scored 304 for 8 wickets in 50 overs and chasing Afghan team came closer to 277 for 7 wickets in 48 overs and due to bad light DLS method decided the decision in favour of Sri Lanka A to get 8 runs win. Afghan batters are in good form. The opener Riaz Hassan scored 100 in 115 balls while Darwish Rasool the number three batter hit 75 in 70 balls and the pair added 163 runs second wicket stand.
Skipper Ikram Alikhil was not succeeded scoring 13 but his National team experience gave much needed confidence. They have more than six players with National experience while Sri Lanka ‘A’ team comprise seven National players and equally balanced two sides will battle it out and dish out some good cricket. Both teams are planning to make few changes today to give expourse for their players but they have not finalised the teams up to now.
