SL vs AFG

As Hasaranga poses with the winners' trophy with his team, we draw curtains on our coverage of Afghanistan's 2024 tour of Sri Lanka. While they've been largely unsuccessful with regards to results, the Afghanistan camp will return with a whole lot of positives. Sri Lanka seem a well-oiled unit going into the World Cup as well - couple of players were out injured, their return will only help in strengthening the side. We'll be back with plenty more coverage of cricket tomorrow - keep an eye on our tabs for the same! This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Probuddha Bhattacharjee. Good night!

Wanindu Hasaranga, Sri Lanka captain: We played really good, the first two games. Credit should go to our bowlers, but we played good cricket all around. We just wanted to see how our bench players performed, I think it worked well. Bowlers did a good job, Dushmantha Chameera will be back after the injury. (Thanks the crowd for the support in Sinhalese).

Ibrahim Zadran, Afghanistan captain: I'm happy with today's win. Unfortunately we lost the series, feels great after the game though. It was a good total we put on the board. Hazrat and Gurbaz gave good momentum to the team, and we tried to keep it throughout the innings. We wanted to give the players a chance who didn't play to figure the best combination going into the T20 World Cup. We played good cricket in the first game but lost. Lots of positives for us this series, and we'll be looking to take them to the T20 World Cup.

Rahamnulah Gurbaz (Player of the Match): To be honest with you, it was really a hard time for me as I was not able to score recently. But things worked out today. While practicing yesterday, I was under pressure but I had a talk with my coach. Today, I took a bit of responsibility and it helped me.I don't mind actually batting first. When I'm having a good day, we can chase. But in this series, we were struggling while chasing. We didn't repeat the same mistakes in the first two games here and managed to win today.

Match summary:

Afghanistan win by 3 runs - Sri Lanka win the 3-match T20I series 2-1

Rahmanullah Gurbaz 70(43) | Mohammad Nabi 2/35 (4)
Kamindu Mendis 65*(39) | Akila Dananjaya 2/37 (4)

A valiant effort from Kamindu Mendis - having been offered a chance, he was set to take his side home from a precarious position, and almost pulled it off. A couple of swings and misses, to go with a non-call of a waist-high no ball proved to be fatal in the end. 

Sri Lanka got off to a flier in the powerplay, courtesy Pathum Nissanka. The recent ODI-double centurion set the tone for the chase as Kusal Mendis was happy to play second fiddle. However, the run rate didn't cross double figures for a considerable period in the chase, which meant that Afghanistan were well in the contest even as Nissanka blazed along to a half century having taken on the Afghanistan pacers with success. 

Wickets began tumbling at the other end as Afghanistan began rolling their spinners out, one after the other. Nissanka continued to motor along, but much like his counter-part Gurbaz, Nissanka had to battle a niggle as the innings progressed. He did his hamstring while running between the wickets, and once he stretched in an attempt to slog one out the ground successfully, Nissanka, who was struggling to run between the wickets by then, had to be escorted off the field.

Wanindu Hasaranga departed soon after, Sadeera Samarawickrama promised a lot in his 12-ball, 23-run cameo having taken spin on with success, but Qais Ahmad, having been summoned as a concussion replacement for Sharafuddin Ashraf, who took a blow to his head having taken the catch of Mendis, had his man eventually. The onus was on Kamindu Mendis and the rest of the Sri Lankan middle order to get the job done, and they sure did make a match out of it.

The equation was steep, but at no stage did it slip out of hand. Dasun Shanaka kept the hosts in the game with a cameo of his own, and eventually, it came down to Kamindu Mendis against Wafadar Momand with 19 needed off the last over, and Momand had to deliver with an extra fielder in the ring. Mendis brought it down to 11 off 3, but Momand prevailed at the end. Presentations to come...

Ahhhh! You can't help but feel that the non no-ball call might just have cost Sri Lanka a white-ball white-wash over Afghanistan! It has been a really rough tour for them down south, but Afghanistan end it on a good note - clinching a high-scoring thriller!

19.6 Wafadar Momand to Kamindu Mendis, SIX!!!! But that will not be enough for them. Good length at the middle and leg. Mendis clears his front foot and heaves it over the mid-wicket fence for a maximum. However. Afghanistan have picked up their first win of the tour by three runs.

19.5 Wafadar Momand to Kamindu Mendis, full at the middle and leg. Mendis swings across the line and hits it to deep square leg. The single is denied.

Kamindu stands around in despair - he was convinced this one crept over his waist! And he has good reason for the same - this one flew past his shoulder! Mendis was a couple of steps down the pitch, but that would have been well above his waist even if he stayed deep in his crease!

19.3 Wafadar Momand to Kamindu Mendis, FOUR!!! Full and slow at the leg stump. Mendis moves towards the off stump and paddles it past the short fine leg fielder for a boundary.

19.2 Wafadar Momand to Kamindu Mendis, APPEAL BUT NOT GIVEN!!!! Afghanistan have taken the review. Yorker at the middle and leg. Mendis swings across the line and misses. There is an appeal for the leg before but the umpire is unmoved. They have taken the review. No bat involved but impact outside the leg stump. The decision stands, it is NOT OUT!!!!

19.1 Wafadar Momand to Kamindu Mendis, FOUR!!! Full at the middle and leg. Mendis swings across the line and that goes off the inside edge. Janat at short fine leg fumbles and that races away to the fence.