Afghanistan registered a convincing 7-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the 30th match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bowl. Fazalhaq Farooqi claimed a four-fer and helped his side restrict the opponents within 241.

While chasing, although Rahmanullah Gurbaz got out for a duck, Ibrahim Zadran scored 39. Meanwhile, Rahmat Shah smashed 62, Hashmatullah Shahidi hit 58* and Azmatullah Omarzai scored an unbeaten 73 and sealed the deal with more than 4 overs in hand as well.

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Who said what after the match?

Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan skipper said: “Quite happy and proud of the team. Happy for the way we performed in all 3 departments. Last game gave us lot of confidence and belief that we can chase any kind of target. It was a very professional performance from the bowlers today. All the coaching and managing staff are working hard and giving us confidence. Especially Jonathan (Trott) he is always positive, before Pakistan game he told me one word and that changed my mindset a lot.

As a captain you should lead from the front and that’s what I am trying to do, I will try to maintain that in the rest of the tournament. Rashid Khan is a special player and the best player in the world. He (Rashid Khan) is a very energetic guy and always keeps the team very lively. I want to congratulate all the Afghanistan supporters and especially want to thank the Indian fans for coming out and supporting us.”

Kusal Mendis, Sri Lankan captain said: “We didn’t do enough with the bat. 300 or maybe 280 would have been sufficient, but not to be. Bowlers have done well in the first 10 overs and the dew has come in little bit and then it became a little hard to bowl the spinners. Actually there was dew today and the ball came on to the bat nicely in the second innings. He (Madushanka) has done really well, in the first couple of games as well and hope he will continue his form going forward.”

Fazalhaq Farooqi, Player of the Match (translated by Rashid Khan) said: “Thanks to the Almighty, nice to have 3 wins in the tournament, happy to have contributed to the team win. I was looking for swing with the new ball, but I didn’t get it, so I just kept it simple, hit the right areas, didn’t want to concede boundaries and that’s how I succeeded. We conceded too many runs in the last few overs (in the previous matches), we put in the hard yards in the nets, bowling with accuracy and trying out as many variations as possible. That’s exactly what we went out and did in the match today.”