In the seventh game of the CWC 2019, Sri Lanka registered their first victory as they defeated Gulbadin Naib side by 34 runs in the low scoring game at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. After winning the toss, Afghanistan elected to bowl first. In the first twenty of the game, Sri Lanka looked extremely good as they were cruising on the score of 92 for the loss of one wicket. But suddenly Mohammad Nabi suddenly chipped in with four wickets. In the end, Kusal Perera was battling the deadly spinners of Afghanistan. ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 – Points Table.

Perera was the scored the highest runs as he got out on 78 runs as his side got bundled out on 201. The rain did play a spoilt sport as the match was reduced to 41 overs each side. Afghanistan lost their first wicket quite early in the game with Mohammad Shahzad making way to the pavilion on 7 runs. Hazmatullah Zazai was the next one to go on a score of 30. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi could not even reach the double digits. Najibullah Zardan was the highest scorer for team Afghanistan as he made 43 runs from 56 balls. SL beat AFG by 34 runs (D/L method).

For Sri Lanka, Nuwan Pradeep snapped four wickets with a stunning economy of 3.44 as he gave away 31 runs from nine overs. Pacer Lasith Malinga snapped three wickets.

Now let’s have a look at a few stats of the game:

# Kusal Perera got the 12th half-century of his career.

# Mohammad Nabi completes 122 wickets of his career.

# Nuwan Pradeep is just seven wickets away from completing 50 wickets of his career.

# Nuwan Pradeep registered the career-best figure 9-1-31-4.

“We had a good start after a long time but suddenly, we lost a couple of wickets and were on the back foot. That's the negative part but otherwise, the bowling and fielding were really good. After losing the first game, it's not easy to keep your mind positive,” said Dimuth Karunaratne after the match. Sri Lanka will next play against Pakistan on Friday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 05, 2019 12:43 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).