Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka, Match 7 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Presentation

Karunaratne: 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 was really good. After losing the first game, it's not easy to keep your mind in positive way. We have experience in these conditions and that helped. Only thing we need to work on is to improve our batting in the middle overs.

Naib: (Where things went wrong) Start of the day, we didn't bowl in good areas and lost momentum from there. They got to 100 in no time. At one point, I thought they would get to 300 but Nabi bowled really well. Wicket wasn't easy for the batters, so I was telling the bowlers to hit the right spots, hit the deck. In the middle overs, Dawlat and Hamid found their lines. Credit goes to them and the other bowlers.

Malinga, Pradeep knock over Afghanistan

We have seen this zillion times! Malinga firing in the yorker to knock over a tailender. The veteran does it again with a pinpoint yorker to shatter the timber of Hamid. Sri Lanka had a close shave but escaped with a 34-run victory. Afghanistan tried hard with Nabi running through the batting order after Kusal had cracked a fifty. However, their batsmen couldn't counter the seaming conditions and the duo of Pradeep and Malinga.

Final nail in the coffin?

And that is perhaps the final nail in Afghanistan's coffin as Najibullah is run out. Dimuth at covers picked up the ball quickly and rocketed in a fine throw to effect the direct hit. That sort of fielding would lift any side. On the other hand, Najibullah is crestfallen.

Engrossing contest

Dawlat is hanging back all the time but Lakmal continues to hit a slightly shorter length. He perhaps needs to bowl a tad fuller to produce the edge. Remember, Dawlat isn't moving that well as he is injured.

Eventually, Malinga got it right with the slow toe-crusher to castle the tailender. He tried it a few times in the over before getting it on target.

Crucial scalps

I seem to have jinxed Afghanistan. Pradeep trapped Naib with the nip-backer. The angle seemed to be taking it down leg but despite Naib taking the review, the Hawkeye showed it would just clip the leg stump. To make matters worse, Rashid was castled by the one that cut back in from Pradeep. He has taken four wickets in the match so far and the ball is zipping through.

On a side note, hard to understand why the fielder at mid on is sitting back with Dawlat at the crease. Need to close in...

Meanwhile, it has gone dark in Cardiff.