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On the sidelines, Chamika Karunaratne and Mohammad Nabi have a friendly chat.

AFG won by 6 wickets (DLS METHOD)

10:42 PM IST and Local Time: That’s it. Afghanistan emerge victorious in this warm-up fixture against Sri Lanka in Guwahati. Their bowlers did a fine job of restricting the Lankan side below 300 before Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Rahmat Shah put up a brilliant partnership to help the Afghans chase down the revised target with six wickets in hand. They enter the World Cup with a lot of confidence whereas Sri Lanka have plenty of questions to answer as they lose both their warm-up fixtures.

Chasing 295, Afghanistan got off to a steady start. Their openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran took their time to settle in. Zadran scored seven before departing in the seventh over. Rahmat Shah walked out to bat at three and played positively. Gurbaz started cutting loose as both pressed on the accelerator. They scored at a very good rate and brought fifty between them in quick time.

Gurbaz and Shah played some beautiful shots and kept the Lankans at bay. Shah brought up his fifty off 45 balls and Gurbaz also brought the milestone with a cracking boundary off 61 balls. Afghanistan were 118/1 at the end of 20.5 overs before the rain arrived. After a long break, the play resumed and the game was reduced to 42 overs and the revised DLS target for Afghanistan was 257.

After the break, Gurbaz and Shah started playing aggressively and scored at a brisk rate. They kept finding boundaries at regular intervals and the Lankans were left clueless. Gurbaz went berserk and played some outstanding strokes and brought up his hundred off just 88 balls. He hit sixes for fun after getting to his hundred and scored 119 off 92 balls before getting retired. Shah also retired after scoring 93 off 82 balls along with Gurbaz as both stitched 212 between them for the second wicket.

Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran walked out to bat but it was a short stay for the former as he fell on one. Zadran and Azmatullah Omarzai remained unbeaten on 15 and 14 respectively to take Afghanistan across the line with 23 balls to spare. Kasun Rajitha bowled beautifully and finished with figures of 1/18 in his seven overs. That was the only positive for the Lankans in the field as they failed to defend the total.

Earlier, Sri Lanka were asked to bat first and they lost Dimuth Karunaratne (8) cheaply in the sixth over. Pathum Nissanka was joined by his skipper Kusal Mendis who was leading Sri Lanka in Dasun Shanaka’s absence. Mendis started aggressively from the word go and played some beautiful strokes. Nissanka also looked settled at the crease. Both stitched a 52-run stand between them before Nissanka fell on 30. Sadeera Samarawickrama joined his skipper who was going berserk at the other end.

Mendis brought up his fifty in no time and continued his assault. The Afghans had no answer to Mendis as they continued to leak runs. They bowled too many loose balls and conceded too many runs in the middle overs. Mendis brought up his hundred off just 59 balls. Mendis along with Samarawickrama brought up 100 between them. Mendis raced to 150 in no time before retiring. His 87-ball 158 knock comprised 19 fours and nine maximums as the 158-run stand came to an end.

Samarawickrama was struggling a bit before Rashid Khan cleaned him up on 39. It led to a collapse as none of their lower-order batters got going. Dhananjaya de Silva scored 22 but the Afghans bowled brilliantly and knocked over Sri Lanka on 294 in 46.2 overs. Mohammad Nabi was the standout bowler for Afghanistan as he registered figures of 4/44 in his eight overs.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz: "Yeah, it was not that easy to bat on right at the start. But as time progressed, it got easier for me to hit the ball. I just played to my strengths. We (Gurbaz and Rahmat Shah) had a chat that we will keep rotating the strikes. But, I said, if they (Sri Lanka) bowl loose balls, I will hit them. I did the same. Haha, yeah, after the break, just thought to after them. It became easier to bat on."

Kusal Mendis (Sri Lanka Captain): "Yeah I think very important to play the two warm-up games. We have bowlers and batters that have done well in both games. Our openers have done very well. Our players have done everything.

I think everyone knows how to play in India and how to work. We have a couple of days before we play the first match. We will have a practice session and team meeting. We can discuss how to do well in the first match.

After the rain break, it was hard to bowl. But that is not the excuse. The bowlers, Dilshan and Kasun Rajitha bowled very well in the first half. We are doing well and are confident heading into the first match."

Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (Afghanistan Head Coach): "I think it was an act of balancing the side. There were a quite a lot of positives as well as a few negatives as well. We need to learn from those mistakes. We will take those positives going into the World Cup opener.

We know that with the rain around and the conditions, we had to bowl first. No brainer there. We thought that the wicket would grip and turn in the afternoon.

Gurbaz just showed us again about his immense talent. He showed his class and it is good for us that he is in a good form. His talent is unmatched. Unfortunately, our previous warm-up game against South Africa was washed out. We have been playing some good cricket."

That brings an end to the warm-up fixtures. The opening game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 will see England take on New Zealand on Thursday at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Don’t forget to join us for that clash.

For now, this is Akshay Bhide, signing off, on behalf of my co-commentators Deepak Prakash, Akshayakrishna Polya, Ajay Ahire and scorer Dushyant Madhukar Kumar. Until next time, cheers and goodbye.