Mathisha Pathirana also called Baby Malinga made his Sri Lanka debut in the first One-Day International against Afghanistan on Friday. Pathirana has already earned a name for himself with his Lasith Malinga-like style, and he also performed admirably in the recently ended IPL 2023. In the IPL 2023, he took 16 wickets in 12 matches. He became Dhoni’s most dependable bowler, taking wickets in several contests in the dying overs.
Pathirana, making his debut for Sri Lanka, was pricey but picked up a wicket. Although Ibrahim Zadran fell two runs short of his century, his superb innings helped Afghanistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the first one-day international on Friday, giving them an early lead in the three-match series.
Afghanistan set a 269-run target, which they met by losing four wickets with 19 balls to spare. Pathirana took one wicket for 66 runs in 8.5 overs in this match. He was Sri Lanka’s most expensive bowler. In the match, he took the wicket of Rahmat Shah, who scored 55 points off 80 balls.
In the match, opener Ibrahim Zadran scored 98 runs for Afghanistan, hitting 11 fours and two sixes. Meanwhile, he had a 146-run second-wicket stand with Rahmat Shah (55). Apart from these two, captain Hasmatullah Shahidi scored 38 points and Mohammad Nabi added 27 not out.
After being asked to bat first, Sri Lanka lost four wickets for 84 runs. Following this, Charit Aslanka (91) and Dhananjay D’Silva (51) exchanged a 99-run fifth-wicket partnership to increase the team’s total to 268 runs.
16 wides balls in his 8.5 overs spell
Matheesa Pathirana seemed out of line during his bowling against Afghanistan. Matheesha Pathirana had a poor start with the ball as he raced away to a 35-ball fifty. He conceded a total of 66 runs in his spell and made an unwanted record of giving 16 wides balls on his debut.
