In a moment of cricketing brilliance, Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Sadeera Samarawickrama plucked off an astonishing catch to get rid of Afghanistan's Rahmat on the first day of the one-off Test between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Samarawickrama spotted that the Afghanistan batter was getting into the position to play a fine sweep and anticipated which way the ball would go if he connected.
As it turned out, Shah indeed played the sweep shot but one that led to his dismissal as the stumper was ready for it and took a sublime catch down the leg side which wouldn't have been possible had he not spotted the batter earrly. The incident happened on the first ball of the 46th over which was bowled by Prabath Jayasuriya. A brilliant catch led to the fall of the batter who was the top run-getter for Afghanistan and was batting on 91.
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Noor Ali Zadran's 31 The Second Highest Individual Contribution After Rahmat Shah's 91
Afghanistan bundled out for 198 in the first innings. While Shah top-scored for them with 91, Noor Ali Zadran was the second highest individual contributor with a score of 31. Their partnership worth 57 off 85 balls for the second wicket was the highest for Afghanistan in the match. For Sri Lanka, who chose to field first after winning the toss, it was Vishwa Fernando who ended up as the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/51. Asitha Fernando and Jayasuirya scalped three wickets apiece as they bowled out the opposition in 62.4 overs.
Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Ikram Alikhil and Qais Ahmad registered scores of 21 runs and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi's 17 and Nijat Masood's 12 were the only other scores in double figures for Afghanistan and that was't enough for the team to get past the 200-run mark.