Afghanistan Beat Sri Lanka To Boost World Cup Semifinal Bid

Afghanistan defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in Pune on Monday to record their third win of the World Cup and maintain their hopes of a semifinal place.

Set 242 to win after a disciplined bowling display, Afghanistan finished on 242-3, with Azmatullah Omarzai unbeaten on 73 and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi 58 not out, the pair sharing an unbroken stand of 111. Afghanistan now have six points and sit in fifth place in the table, two behind New Zealand and Australia with the top four guaranteed to make the semifinals.

Victory also meant Afghanistan, who’d already beaten champions England, had won back-to-back matches at the World Cup for the first time after they defeated Pakistan by eight wickets last time out.

Prior to this edition, they had managed just one win — against non-test nation Scotland in 2015  from their appearances at two previous World Cups.

Yet they have now beaten three World Cup winners in England, 1992 champions Pakistan and 1996 kings Sri Lanka.