Twitter reacts as Afghanistan defeat Sri Lanka to register their 3rd win in ICC Cricket World Cup 2023; Keep semi-final hopes alive

Afghanistan have defeated Sri Lanka in the 30th match of ICC Cricket World Cup by 7 wickets in Pune.

Afghanistan and Sri Lanka clashed in an important match for both teams in at the MCA International Stadium in Pune on October 30, 2023. This ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match was instrumental as a loss for either side would’ve ended their hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

Sri Lanka were put into bat first after Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss. Noor Ahmad made way for Fazalhaq Farooqi, while Rashid Khan appeared in his 100th ODI. On the other hand, Dushmantha Chameera and Dimuth Karunaratne came in for Lahiru Kumara and Kusal Perera.

Pathum Nissanka did well at the start, scoring 46 runs in 60 balls. Kusal Mendis with 39, Sadeera Samarawickrama made 36 runs as Afghanistan bowlers made inroads at regular intervals.

Much was expected from Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva and the duo got starts as well. Asalanka made 22, while De Silva made 14 runs before being dismissed.

Then thanks to Angelo Mathews’ 23 and Maheesh Theekshana‘s 29, Sri Lanka managed to push their final total to 241 runs. Fazalhaq Farooqi picked 4/34, while Naveen Ul Haq took two wickets. Rashid Khan also picked one wicket in his 100th ODI.

Afghanistan registers convincing win over Sri Lanka; Azmatullah Omarzai and Hashmatullah Shahidi star

The only option for Sri Lanka was to take wickets up front and Dilshan Madushanka did that. He removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck and then also accounted for dangerous Ibrahim Zadran for 39 runs.

But then Rahmat Shah (62) added 58 runs with captain Shahidi for the third wicket. Shahidi continued the march towards victory with Azmatullah Omarzai for company. Shahidi remained unbeaten on 58, while Omarzai made 73* as the duo added 111 unbeaten runs for the 4th wicket.

Afghanistan won their third match in this CWC 2023 by 7 wickets in the 46th over. They also moved to fifth place in the points table with 6 points to their name from 6 games.

Fans and the cricket fraternity, all praised the Afghanistan team, who have been mightily impressive in this World Cup.

Here's how twitter reacted to Afghanistan's win over Sri Lanka:

https://twitter.com/robbieuthappa/status/1719029465110757572

https://twitter.com/iamyusufpathan/status/1719029559662727429

https://twitter.com/niallnobiobrien/status/1719029587571585048

https://twitter.com/jatinsapru/status/1719025102459916618

https://twitter.com/robbieuthappa/status/1719023933247328638

https://twitter.com/imshishirz/status/1719026838897557563

https://twitter.com/LoyalSachinFan/status/1719026680763957717

https://twitter.com/M_Abbas_Safi/status/1719026261098483791

https://twitter.com/Wahida_Afghan/status/1719025001259520368

https://twitter.com/jay_upadhyay14/status/1719026235551199343

https://twitter.com/WazhmaAyoubi/status/1719024129947382243

https://twitter.com/WazhmaAyoubi/status/1719022391576187174

https://twitter.com/bhogleharsha/status/1719025131375526194

https://twitter.com/CricCrazyJohns/status/1719027144561717637

https://twitter.com/bhaleraosarang/status/1719027626030121365

https://twitter.com/vikrantgupta73/status/1719026914856411192

https://twitter.com/harbhajan_singh/status/1719027614361551335

https://twitter.com/anilkumble1074/status/1719027980545204669

https://twitter.com/AzharMahmood11/status/1719028155648782458

https://twitter.com/cheteshwar1/status/1719028471282929716

https://twitter.com/IrfanPathan/status/1719028832970358881

https://twitter.com/iamyusufpathan/status/1719028945725575610

https://twitter.com/IrfanPathan/status/1719028637809410120