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Afghanistan name a strong squad to face Sri Lanka next month

Published

3 years ago

May 15, 2023

Editor

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has banked more on spinners as they announced a full-strength squad for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka.

The three-match ODI series will take place at Hambantota in Sri Lanka on June 2, 4, and 7.

Left-handed batter Hashmatullah Shahidi will lead the 15-man squad that has four reserve players in it.

All-rounder Abdul Rahman has been recalled following his strong performances in the domestic circuit, while Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zia Ur Rahman Akbar, and Gulbadin Naib are among the reserves.

ACB chair Mirwais Ashraf reckoned the Sri Lanka tour will be a good preparation for the 2023 ODI World Cup. As quoted by the ICC, he said:

“It’s good to have a couple of young faces for the series; the build-up for the ICC Cricket World Cup has already begun, and we are looking for every possible opportunity to build a good combination of the team and prepare them well for the event.”

Afghanistan has already qualified for the 2023 World Cup after finishing seventh position in the recently completed ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League. The site also has ranked within 10 in the ICC ODI bowlers rankings, with Rashid Khan (sixth), Mujib ur Rahman (eighth) and Mohammad Nabi (10th) making up a formidable attack alongside left-arm seamer Fazhalhaq Farooqi and spinner Noor Ahmad.

Noor, part of the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023, has snared 11 scalps in eight games at 19.45 alongside an economy rate of 7.30. However, the 18-year-old has played only one ODI and as manyT20I after debuting in 2022.

Afghanistan’s squad to face Sri Lanka
Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhail (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujib ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Abdul Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, and Farid Ahmad Malik.

Reserves: Gulbadin Naib, Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, and Zia ur Rahman Akbar.

ඇෆ්ගනිස්තානය ලබන මාසයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මුහුණ දීමට ශක්තිමත් සංචිතයක් නම් කරයි

ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථාන ක්‍රිකට් පාලක මණ්ඩලය (ACB) ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව එළඹෙන එක්දින තරඟාවලිය සඳහා පූර්ණ ප්‍රබල සංචිතයක් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කිරීමත් සමඟ දඟපන්දු යවන්නන් සඳහා වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කර තිබේ.

තරග තුනකින් සමන්විත එක්දින තරගාවලිය ජුනි 2, 4 සහ 7 දිනවල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හම්බන්තොටදී පැවැත්වේ.

සංචිත ක්‍රීඩකයින් 4 දෙනෙකුගෙන් සමන්විත 15 දෙනෙකුගෙන් යුත් සංචිතයට වමත් පිතිකරු හෂ්මතුල්ලා ෂාහිඩි නායකත්වය දෙනු ඇත.

තුන් ඉරියව් ක්‍රීඩක අබ්දුල් රහ්මාන් දේශීය සංචිතයේ ඔහුගේ ප්‍රබල දස්කම් හේතුවෙන් නැවත කැඳවා ඇති අතර ෂහිදුල්ලා කමල්, යමින් අහමඩ්සායි, සියා උර් රහ්මාන් අක්බාර් සහ ගුල්බඩින් නයිබ් සංචිත අතර වේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංචාරය 2023 එක්දින ලෝක කුසලානයට හොඳ සූදානමක් වනු ඇතැයි ACB සභාපති Mirwais Ashraf ගණන් බලා ඇත. ICC විසින් උපුටා දක්වන ලද පරිදි ඔහු මෙසේ පැවසීය.

“මාලාව සඳහා තරුණ මුහුණු කිහිපයක් තිබීම සතුටක්; ICC ක්‍රිකට් ලෝක කුසලානය සඳහා ගොඩනැගීම දැනටමත් ආරම්භ වී ඇති අතර, කණ්ඩායමේ හොඳ සංයෝජනයක් ගොඩනැගීමට සහ ඔවුන්ව හොඳින් සූදානම් කිරීමට හැකි සෑම අවස්ථාවක්ම අපි සොයමින් සිටිමු. සිදුවීම.”

පසුගියදා නිමාවට පත් වූ ICC පිරිමි ක්‍රිකට් ලෝක කුසලාන සුපර් ලීග් තරඟාවලියේ හත්වන ස්ථානය ලබා ගනිමින් ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානය දැනටමත් 2023 ලෝක කුසලාන තරඟාවලියට සුදුසුකම් ලබා ඇත. මෙම වෙබ් අඩවිය ICC ODI පන්දු යවන්නන් ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම්වල 10 වැනි ස්ථානයේ පසුවන අතර, රෂීඩ් ඛාන් (හයවන), මුජිබ් උර් රහ්මාන් (අටවන) සහ මොහොමඩ් නබි (10 වැනි) වමත් වේග පන්දු යවන ක්‍රීඩක ෆෂල්හක් ෆාරුකි සහ දඟ පන්දු යවන නූර් අහමඩ් සමඟින් ප්‍රබල ප්‍රහාරයක් එල්ල කරයි.

IPL 2023 හි ගුජරාට් ටයිටන්ස් හි කොටසක් වන නූර්, 7.30 ක ආර්ථික අනුපාතයක් සමඟින් 19.45 ට තරඟ අටකදී හිස් 11 ක් දවාගෙන ඇත. කෙසේ වෙතත්, 18 හැවිරිදි ඔහු ක්‍රීඩා කර ඇත්තේ 2022 දී මංගල දර්ශනයෙන් පසුව එක් එක්දින තරගයක් සහ විස්සයි20 තරඟ ගණනාවක් පමණි.

Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhail (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujib ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Abdul Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, and Farid Ahmad Malik.

Reserves: Gulbadin Naib, Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, and Zia ur Rahman Akbar.

அடுத்த மாதம் இலங்கையை எதிர்கொள்ள ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் வலுவான அணியை அறிவித்துள்ளது

ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் கிரிக்கெட் வாரியம் (ஏசிபி) சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளர்கள் மீது அதிக கவனம் செலுத்தியுள்ளது, அவர்கள் இலங்கைக்கு எதிரான ஒருநாள் தொடருக்கான முழு வலிமை கொண்ட அணியை அறிவித்துள்ளனர்.

மூன்று போட்டிகள் கொண்ட ஒருநாள் தொடர் ஜூன் 2, 4, 7 ஆகிய தேதிகளில் இலங்கையின் ஹம்பாந்தோட்டாவில் நடைபெறுகிறது.

நான்கு ரிசர்வ் வீரர்களைக் கொண்ட 15 பேர் கொண்ட அணிக்கு இடது கை பேட்டர் ஹஷ்மத்துல்லா ஷாஹிடி தலைமை தாங்குவார்.

ஆல்-ரவுண்டர் அப்துல் ரஹ்மான் உள்நாட்டு சுற்றுகளில் அவரது வலுவான செயல்திறனைத் தொடர்ந்து திரும்ப அழைக்கப்பட்டார், அதே நேரத்தில் ஷாஹிதுல்லா கமால், யாமின் அஹ்மத்சாய், ஜியா உர் ரஹ்மான் அக்பர் மற்றும் குல்பாடின் நைப் ஆகியோர் இருப்புக்களில் உள்ளனர்.

ஏசிபி தலைவர் மிர்வைஸ் அஷ்ரஃப் இலங்கை சுற்றுப்பயணம் 2023 ஒருநாள் உலகக் கோப்பைக்கு ஒரு நல்ல தயாரிப்பாக இருக்கும் என்று கருதினார். ஐசிசி மேற்கோள் காட்டி அவர் கூறியதாவது:

“இந்தத் தொடருக்கு ஓரிரு இளம் முகங்கள் இருப்பது நல்லது; ஐசிசி கிரிக்கெட் உலகக் கோப்பைக்கான உருவாக்கம் ஏற்கனவே தொடங்கிவிட்டது, மேலும் அணியின் ஒரு நல்ல கலவையை உருவாக்குவதற்கும் அவர்களை நன்கு தயார்படுத்துவதற்கும் சாத்தியமான ஒவ்வொரு வாய்ப்பையும் நாங்கள் எதிர்பார்க்கிறோம். நிகழ்வு.”

சமீபத்தில் நிறைவடைந்த ஐசிசி ஆடவர் உலகக் கோப்பை சூப்பர் லீக்கில் ஏழாவது இடத்தைப் பிடித்த ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் ஏற்கனவே 2023 உலகக் கோப்பைக்கு தகுதி பெற்றுள்ளது. ICC ODI பந்துவீச்சாளர்கள் தரவரிசையில் இந்த தளம் 10 வது இடத்தில் உள்ளது, ரஷித் கான் (ஆறாவது), முஜிப் உர் ரஹ்மான் (எட்டாவது) மற்றும் முகமது நபி (10வது) ஆகியோர் இடது கை வேகப்பந்து வீச்சாளர் ஃபசல்ஹக் ஃபரூக்கி மற்றும் சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளர் நூர் அஹ்மத் ஆகியோருடன் இணைந்து வலிமையான தாக்குதலை உருவாக்கியுள்ளனர்.

ஐபிஎல் 2023 இல் குஜராத் டைட்டன்ஸின் ஒரு பகுதியான நூர், எட்டு ஆட்டங்களில் 19.45 மணிக்கு 11 ஸ்கால்ப்களை 7.30 என்ற எகானமி ரேட்டுடன் சேர்த்து அடித்துள்ளார். இருப்பினும், 18 வயதான அவர் 2022 இல் அறிமுகமான பிறகு ஒரே ஒரு ODI மற்றும் பல T20I ஐ மட்டுமே விளையாடியுள்ளார்.

இலங்கையை எதிர்கொள்ளும் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் அணி
ஹஷ்மத்துல்லா ஷாஹிடி (c), ரஹ்மத் ஷா (விசி), ரஹ்மானுல்லா குர்பாஸ் (விசி), இப்ராஹிம் சத்ரான், ரியாஸ் ஹசன், நஜிபுல்லா சத்ரான், முகமது நபி, இக்ரம் அலிகைல் (வாரம்), அஸ்மத்துல்லா உமர்சாய், ரஷித் கான், முஜிப் உர் ரஹ்மான், நோர் ரஹ்மான், நோர் ரஹ்மான், ஃபசல் ஹக் ஃபரூக்கி மற்றும் ஃபரித் அகமது மாலிக்.

இருப்பு: குல்பாடின் நைப், ஷாஹிதுல்லா கமால், யாமின் அஹ்மத்சாய் மற்றும் ஜியா உர் ரஹ்மான் அக்பர்.

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February 19, 2026

Editor

Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign suffered a major setback as they went down to Zimbabwe by six wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium — a result few predicted before the first ball was bowled.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, Sri Lanka posted what appeared to be a competitive 178/7. But defensive bowling and a lack of control in key moments allowed Zimbabwe to chase down 179 with three balls to spare, finishing on 182/4 in 19.3 overs.

Where Sri Lanka Lost the Game

Strong Start, Poor Finish with the Bat

Sri Lanka flew out of the blocks, scoring 61 runs in the Powerplay.

Pathum Nissanka led the charge with a fluent 62 off 41 balls.
The opening stand raced to 54 inside five overs.

However, momentum dipped sharply in the middle overs:

Kusal Mendis struggled (14 off 20).
The run rate slowed between overs 7–14.
Despite a late push from Pavan Rathnayake (44 off 25), Sri Lanka managed only 28 runs in the final three overs.

From a position of dominance at 108/2, they could not push beyond the 185–190 mark — a total that, in hindsight, proved costly.

Failure to Strike Early with the Ball

Zimbabwe’s chase was built on a solid foundation:

55 runs in the Powerplay without losing a wicket.
69-run opening stand removed early pressure.

Sri Lanka never truly regained control.

The Raza–Bennett Counterattack

The turning point came when captain Sikandar Raza launched a brutal counterattack:

45 off 26 balls
4 sixes
50-run partnership in just 27 balls

Brian Bennett anchored the chase superbly with an unbeaten 63 off 48.

Raza’s assault in overs 15–18 shifted the momentum completely, taking the game away from Sri Lanka just when it seemed evenly poised.

Bowling Concerns Under Lights

Sri Lanka’s bowling lacked penetration:

Maheesh Theekshana conceded 47 in 3.3 overs (13.42 economy).
No early breakthroughs from the seamers.
Only one Powerplay wicket across both innings combined.

On a Colombo surface that slowed slightly, Zimbabwe adapted better, rotating strike efficiently before accelerating at the death.

Key Numbers That Hurt Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe Powerplay: 55/0
Sri Lanka Powerplay wickets: 0
Zimbabwe scored 150 in just 16.1 overs
Sri Lanka conceded 9.33 runs per over in the chase

What This Means

Sri Lanka entered as favourites, especially batting first at home. But tactical lapses, middle-over stagnation, and expensive spells under pressure proved decisive.

Zimbabwe, disciplined with the ball and fearless in the chase, fully deserved their two points.

For Sri Lanka, questions now emerge:

Is the bowling attack lacking bite?
Are middle overs becoming a recurring concern?
Was 178 ever going to be enough on this surface?

With tougher fixtures ahead in the T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka must regroup quickly — because performances like this could derail their campaign early.

Cricket

Sri Lanka Sweats on Pathirana Injury; Hasaranga Comeback on the Cards

Published

2 days ago

February 18, 2026

Editor

Sri Lanka’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign has suffered a major setback, with fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana likely to miss the remainder of the tournament due to injury.

The 23-year-old sustained a calf injury during Sri Lanka’s Group B encounter against Australia on Monday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. The incident occurred in his opening over when, after delivering the fourth ball, Pathirana suddenly pulled up clutching his left calf before collapsing to the ground in visible discomfort.

Team physiotherapists rushed onto the field as concerned teammates gathered around. The pacer was unable to leave the field without assistance, immediately raising concerns about the severity of the injury. Captain Dasun Shanaka completed the over in his absence.

Shortly after, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed that Pathirana would take no further part in the match. In a brief statement, SLC said the bowler had experienced discomfort in his left calf and would undergo medical scans for a full assessment.

Major Blow to Pace Attack

Initial indications suggest the injury could rule Pathirana out for the rest of the World Cup — a significant loss for Sri Lanka’s bowling unit. Known for his slingy action and deadly yorkers, especially at the death, Pathirana has been one of Sri Lanka’s most reliable T20 strike bowlers.

If ruled out, team management is expected to consider Dilshan Madushanka or Nuwan Thushara as potential replacements. While both offer pace and variety, replacing Pathirana’s unique skillset will be a challenge.

Hasaranga Return Under Discussion

In a parallel development, Sri Lanka are reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing Wanindu Hasaranga back into the squad as he continues recovery from a hamstring injury.

Although Hasaranga has not yet regained full match fitness, officials are said to be evaluating whether he could feature later in the tournament — particularly if Sri Lanka qualify for the Super Eight stage.

With their final group match effectively a dead rubber, Sri Lanka have a short window to reassess their injury situation and make strategic decisions. The team management is likely to wait for clearer medical reports before confirming any squad changes.

As the tournament enters a decisive phase, Sri Lanka’s hopes may depend as much on fitness updates as on performances on the field.

Cricket

Colombo Set for High-Voltage India–Pakistan Night Battle

Published

6 days ago

February 15, 2026

Editor

ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup

Colombo is preparing for one of cricket’s biggest nights as India and Pakistan meet in a marquee clash of the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.

Beyond tactics and statistics, this is a contest built on history and pride. With both teams in form and World Cup ambitions on the line, Sunday night promises a high-quality contest under the Colombo lights.