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Afghanistan 198 and 199 for 1 (Ibrahim 101*, Rahmat 46*, Asitha 1-35) path Sri Lanka 439 (Mathews 141, Chandimal 107, Naveed 4-83) by 42 runs
Ibrahim and Shah remained unbeaten in the end, meaning Afghanistan have nine wickets left as they look to erase the remaining 42 runs in their deficit and establish a lead that will test Sri Lanka. The surface had not yet begun to take a radical turn and was still excellent for hitting. But Afghanistan has two architects in its attack – albeit very inexperienced – who could take advantage of the available assistance.
Sri Lanka will regret the missed opportunities. Ibrahim was on 39 when he came down the field to smash a delivery from Prabath Jayasuriya straight to the bowler, who let it burst through his fingers and hit the boundary for four. The easiest chance came to Nishan Madushka at short medium when Ibrahim was on 63. He was again hit hard, but at a reachable height close to his head. He raised his hands, but couldn’t wrap his fingers around the ball.
Sri Lanka’s bowlers were largely disciplined, even if they could not get life out of a pitch that had become good to bat at. Asitha Fernando was the best of them, delivering some excellent bursts of short-pitched bowling as well as some outstanding fuller deliveries, one of which produced Afghanistan’s only wicket to fall – that of Noor, for 47.
But the day belonged to Ibrahim. Occasionally his outside edge was hit with the new ball and he scored no goals in 14 deliveries, but once he got moving, he maintained a steady pace. His first runs were through a peek at the fine-leg boundary, but early in his innings he was mostly strong in the arc between cover and mid-wicket. Between the boundaries, which came mainly from full and slightly wide deliveries, there was a substantial diet of singles across the wicket. Ibrahim needed 84 balls to reach 30. During his 106-run partnership with Noor, the main objective seemed to be batting.
The last half century ended before tea and in the evening Ibrahim consolidated himself. He now he was reaching limits for a long time and in the middle ground. Sri Lanka tried all sorts of catches to try and provoke an error, but apart from that missed chance in the 63rd minute, Ibrahim found ways to progress without taking risks. Most of the time he would just try to hit fours off bad pitches, usually ones that were over pitched. He reached a hundred, the fourth in Afghanistan’s history, in the last over of the day.
Noor’s innings, unlike Ibrahim’s, were problematic, but he still lasted 136 deliveries and fell just three runs short of what would have been a fifty on debut. He was particularly uncomfortable with Asitha’s bouncer flurry shortly after lunch, but he narrowly survived, and it was only in the third session that Asitha would take him out, hitting him in front of the leg-stump with a quick, full delivery. Noor made most of his runs behind the wicket, a reflection, in part, of how short Sri Lanka bowled him.
Rahmat, who made 46 off 98 before stumps, and was part of an unbeaten 93-run partnership with Ibrahim, scored all but 11 of his runs offside. He was strong on the ground, especially, finding three of his five boundaries there.
Sri Lanka’s attack was disrupted by a hit received by Chamika Gunasekara, who in the morning received a blow to the head, appeared to suffer the effects a few overs after the hit, and was therefore removed from the field and subjected to further tests in Hospital. Kasun Rajitha, who replaced him as a concussion substitute, was Sri Lanka’s highest bowler on Sunday, taking 4.30 in his 10 overs.
The others were more disciplined, although Asitha only seriously threatened to occupy wickets for much of the day. Jayasuriya will be especially disappointed to have nothing in the wickets column after bowling 32 overs, although nine of them were maidens.
Earlier in the day, Afghanistan had claimed three wickets for 39 to close Sri Lanka’s first innings at 439. The most important wicket of the morning was the first – that of Sri Lanka’s last recognized batsman, Sadeera Smarawickrama, who edged Naveed Zadran to the ravine.
The next two wickets soon fell. Naveed hit the top of Jayasuriya’s stump before Nijat Masood then bowled the first ball to Asitha Fernando, with Asitha coming in after Gunasekara retired injured.
Naveed’s share in the innings was 4 for 83. Masood and Qais Ahmed claimed two wickets each.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior editor at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf