Afghanistan try to grapple with Pathirana’s extra pace

The raw genuine pace of Matheesha Pathirana unsettled the Afghanistan batsmen 

• Second T20I at Dambulla today

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Afghanistan, a proud and fighting nation of cricketers are not having things their own way as they would have liked on their current tour of Sri Lanka. 

They came with their heads held high having beaten Sri Lanka rather comprehensively in the Cricket World Cup league match by seven wickets at Pune, a win that knocked Sri Lanka out of the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan 2025.

Having been on Sri Lankan soil for three weeks Afghanistan are still searching for their first win on the tour. They lost the one-off Test and the ODI series 3-0. On Saturday they almost came within touching distance of recording their first win when they lost the first T20I played at Dambulla by a mere four runs. Afghanistan were on course to win that match had it not been for 21-year-old pacer Matheesha Pathirana who destroyed their hopes with his blinding pace to end with 4/24 and take the Player of the Match award.

At crucial junctures during their run chase Pathirana struck deep into the heart of the Afghanistan batting to keep Sri Lanka in the game right throughout the 20 overs so that in the end it was Pathirana’s extra pace (153 kph, 95 mph) that made the difference.

Afghanistan did well to bowl Sri Lanka out inside the 20 overs for 160 but apart from captain Ibrahim Zadran who made a valiant 67* the rest of the batting hardly made an impression as Afghanistan fell agonisingly short finishing on 156-9.

“The game was advantageous to both sides. We wanted to somehow win it. I tried as much as possible to swing the match towards our side and it went right for me. The yorkers worked well for me, that’s the reason we won,” said Pathirana at the post-match press conference.

“I didn’t do anything special to increase my pace. I put in a few extra sessions. The more you bowl you can increase your pace. By doing little things I have managed to increase my pace.”  Pathirana was playing only his second T20I for Sri Lanka in two years and during the time he was out of the side he said he got a lot of opportunities to play in different leagues and work with other cricketers gaining valuable information.  

“When I was in Sri Lanka, I worked a lot with our coaches. I made small changes. From what I’ve learnt from them I brought into my game in my second T20I.”

Pathirana said that Binura Fernando bowled a good final over with Afghanistan requiring 11 runs for victory.  

“He used his experience a lot. Although he was expensive in his early overs he came back and bowled the final over very well. We won with his over.”

Fernando conceded only six runs after he was hit for 38 off his first three overs.

Sri Lanka looked well set to go beyond 180 when they were 146-5 in the 16th over with captain Wanindu Hasaranga in full flow (67 off 32 balls), but his dismissal saw them losing their remaining five wickets for 14 runs.

“We targeted to get 170 plus but we fell short by 10-15 runs. If we are to win, we must perform well. We didn’t take it too much on ourselves because we wanted to win,” said Pathirana.      

Afghanistan’s losing captain Ibrahim Zadran blamed the loss on his batsmen.

“160 was a chaseable target. We had a good start in the powerplay. We gave them wickets in the middle, our batsmen didn’t take the responsibility. I give credit to the Sri Lankan bowlers, the way they bowled. They turned the game away from us.”

“I don’t like losing, but that’s part of the game. We gave our best in the field. We will try to come back stronger in the next game.”

The second T20I is at the same venue Dambulla today.