The Afghanistan player Fazalhaq Farooqi was named as the player of the match during the match against Sri Lanka in the World Cup 2023.
Fazalhaq Farooqi on victory against Sri Lanka
Afghanistan is scheduled to play in the 30th match in the World Cup 2023 against Sri Lanka on October 30 at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. Winning the toss, Afghanistan chose to bowl. Pathum Nissanka and Karunaratne opened the innings while Mujeeb opened the bowling attack.
Karunaratne was dismissed by Fazalhaq Farooqi for 15 runs while Pathum Nissanka had an impressive start scoring 46 runs and was dismissed by Azmatullah. Kusal Mendis and Samarawickrama scored 39 and 36 runs before being dismissed by Mujeeb.
The 23-year-old Fazalhaq Farooqi dismissed Asalanka for 22 runs and Mathews for 23 runs. Theekshana scored 29 runs and helped the side set a score of 241, losing all 10 wickets with three balls remaining in the last over of their innings.
With a target of 242 runs, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran opened the innings for Afghanistan while Dilshan Madushanka opened the bowling attack.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was sent out with a duck while Ibrahim Zadran scored 39 runs and was sent out by Dilshan Madushanka. Rahmat Shah had an impressive knock of 62 runs from 74 deliveries and was dismissed by Rajitha.
Hashmatullah Shahidi scored 58* runs while Azmatullah Omarzai scored 73* runs on 63 deliveries. By the end, Afghanistan scored 242 runs on the 46th over losing 3 wickets. Fazalhaq Farooqi was named as the Player of the Match.
While speaking after the match he 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 a swing with the new ball, but I didn’t get it, so I just kept it simple, hit the right areas, and 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), but 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,” he concluded.
With winning three games out of six matches in the ICC tournament, Afghanistan is scheduled to play their next World Cup match against the Netherlands on November 03, at Ekana Sports City, Lucknow.
