Afghanistan’s cricketers showed Sunday why they belong at the World Cup. Later in the day, India indicated why it might be a strong chance to repeat as champions, beating one of the favorites, South Africa, by 130 runs.
The Afghanis, making their first appearance at the tournament, arrived with plenty of pride and strong support from some 25,000 expatriates who now call the co-host countries of Australia and New Zealand home — and many others who want the fledgling team to do well.
Sri Lanka was in trouble when Afghanistan’s bowlers took early wickets, but the more established team prevailed, scoring the winning runs with only 10 balls remaining. Asghar Stanikzai led Afghanistan with 54 of its 232 runs, while Mahela Jayawardene scored 100 runs to push Sri Lanka to 236-6 and victory.
It was Afghanistan’s second loss in a row in the tournament while Sri Lanka evened its record at 1-1.
“We started very well for the first 30 overs but after that we didn’t play well,” said Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi, one of those who spent time in a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. “It was a tough and tight game and the boys played very well.”
Jayawardene said “all credit to Afghanistan, they batted very well in tough conditions and then bowled beautifully … and put us under a lot of pressure.”
