SL vs AFG One-off Test: Bowlers Give Sri Lanka Upper Hand Before Openers Take Them To 80/0 On Day 1

Sri Lanka took the upper hand on the opening day of the only Test against Afghanistan at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Friday, February 2 with the openers shining late in the day.

Openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka’s magnificent partnership of 80 runs put the host in control after the end of play on Day 1, having bowled the visitors out for 198.

After stumps on Day 1, Karunaratne is playing on 42 runs off 37 balls with the help of seven fours and Madushka is batting on 36 runs 48 balls with six boundaries in his innings so far.

Talking about the visitors Afghanistan, they have used a total of four bowlers namely Nijat Masood (4-1-18-0), Mohammad Saleem Saifi (3-0-19-0), Naveed Zadran (4-0-22-0), and Ziar-ur-Rehman (3-0-20-0) so far.

Earlier in the day, the Dhananjaya de Silva-led Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl first on the first day of the only Test to be played between the two sides.

Afghanistan, who are playing only their eighth Test match, had a disappointing with the bat as they were bowled out for just 198 runs in 62.4 overs.

Rahmat Shah was the top run-getter for the visitors as he scored 91 runs in 139 deliveries with the help of 13 boundaries whereas no other batter managed to touch even the 40-run mark.