Sri Lanka steamroll Afghanistan in second T20I

Player of the Match Angelo Mathews on song, hits a six

Wanindu Hasaranga rejoices taking 100 T20I wickets

Binura Fernando broke the back of the Afghanistan batting with two wickets in one over

 Sadeera Samarawickrama celebrates his maiden T20I fifty

• Take winning 2-0 lead in three-match series

You can’t keep a good man down is how the saying goes and it applied fittingly to the oldest cricketer in the Sri Lankan side, 36-year-old Angelo Mathews. The veteran all-rounder showcased his skills in brilliant fashion to enable his team steamroll Afghanistan to a 72-run defeat in the second T20I played to another packed audience of 18,000 spectators at the Rangiri Dambulla Cricket Stadium yesterday.

The win gave Sri Lanka an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.

Sri Lanka invited to bat first for the second time in the series raced to an imposing 187-6, and then with a combination of pace and spin bowled the visitors out for 115 in 17 overs.

Pathum Nissanka (25 off 11 balls) and Kusal Mendis (23 off 14 balls) got Sri Lanka off to an explosive start posting 45 off 23 balls before both got out three balls of each other. 

Afghanistan bowlers somewhat gained control of the Sri Lankan run rate by picking up wickets at regular intervals so that at the fall of the fifth wicket in the 15th over Sri Lanka had only 121 on the board.

What happened from there onwards was a Sadeera Samarawickrama-Mathews show as they pummelled the Afghanistan bowlers to the tune of 66 off 34 balls for the sixth wicket that saw them reach a total that could really put pressure on the Afghanistan batting. The last three overs cost 49 runs.

Mathews was at his brilliant best racing to an unbeaten 42 off 22 balls inclusive of four sixes and two fours, while Samarawickrama who had held the innings together completed a maiden T20I half-century (51 off 42 balls, 5 fours) before being the last wicket to fall off the final ball. Mathews who took the Player of the Match award was passed fit to play only a few hours before the start of the match, having to undergo a fitness test for a tightness in the hamstring. What a performance he came up with. This was the cricketer the former selection panel didn’t want in the white ball team and later paid a heavy price for it.

Afghanistan’s reply was derailed by Mathews this time with the ball. He picked up the two openers with the fifth ball of his opening over and the second ball of his second over to have them down 19-2. After Maheesh Theekshana had trapped the dangerous Rahmanullah Gurbaz lbw for 13, Binura Fernando who bowled a superb final over in the first T20I to deny Afghanistan a win, struck twice in the fifth over of the innings sending back Gulbadin Naib and Azmatullah Omarzai as Afghanistan ended the first power play with half the side out for 40.

Mohammad Nabi (27) and Karim Janat (28) resisted for a while, but Dasun Shanaka the former white ball skipper picked out Nabi’s wicket and then pulled off a stunning catch to send back Janat. Najibullah Zadran was cleaned up by Wanindu Hasaranga to give the Sri Lankan skipper his 100th T20I wicket making him the second fastest to the mark in history after Rashid Khan. Hasaranga was playing in his 63rd T20I and Rashid got there in 53 matches.

Matheesha Pathirana put the finishing touches on the last two wickets to bring the Afghanistan innings to a disappointing end.

The third and final T20I will be played at the same venue on Wednesday.