Sri Lanka registered a thumping win over Afghanistan in the one-off Test match played at SSC Grounds, Colombo.
Afghanistan resumed their second innings in a strong position at 199/1, but witnessed a turnaround in the morning session as the Sri Lankan bowlers used the new ball to greater effect, dismissing 6 wickets for 52 runs.
The speedster Kasun Rajitha bowled a brilliant delivery to nick off the well-set overnight batter Rahmat Shah for 54 runs. Soon after, Prabath Jayasuriya knocked the centurion Ibrahim Zadran over with a beautiful arm ball.
Jayasuriya struck again to get rid of the Afghanistan Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi for 18 runs. Asitha Fernando then bowled one in the corridor of uncertainty to trap Ikram Alikhil, which was followed by a brilliant catch from the hosts’ Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva to see the back of Qais Ahmad in the very next over.
Jayasuriya then deceived Zia-ur-Rehman with another arm delivery to scalp his 4th wicket just before the Lunch break.
The Afghan tail-enders showed some fight after the break, adding 56 runs for the remaining 3 wickets as they were bowled out for 296, setting an easy target of 56 for the hosts. Jayasuriya was the standout performer with the ball for Sri Lanka as he went on to claim 5 wickets for 107 runs.
Sri Lankan opening pair Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka hardly broke a sweat, chasing down the target under 8 overs.
