ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Match 7 Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka Live Updates: Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by 34 runs!!!
Malinga cleans up Hamid Hassan with his ever-so-reliable yorker to bring an end to Afghanistan's innings. Sri Lanka win their first match of this World Cup.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Match 7, Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka at Sophia Gardens Cricket Ground in Cardiff, Preview: Both Afghanistan and Sri Lanka will look to bounce back from defeats when they meet each other at the Sophia Gardens Cricket Ground in Cardiff for their ICC Cricket World Cup match.
Meanwhile, Dimuth Karunaratne urged his Sri Lanka flops to stay positive after they were jeered by angry fans during Saturday's embarrassing 10-wicket loss to New Zealand in their opening match of the World Cup.
Sri Lanka crashed to 136 all out after being put into bat first in Cardiff and the Black Caps chased down the modest target in 16.1 overs.
Martin Guptill, hitting 73, and Colin Munro, scoring 58, hammered the runs after pacemen Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson claimed three wickets each against hapless Sri Lanka.
But skipper Karunaratne, who stood out with his unbeaten 52, said all is not lost as long as his players don't dwell on the defeat.
"I think we have another eight games to go. We need to (keep our) chin up and play very well," Karunaratne said in the post-match press conference.
"We need to see what we have. On the back end we need to get some partnerships, (and in) the middle part. Those are the key areas. We're looking forward to doing it."
The 1996 champions were on the receiving end of some booing by a group of Sri Lankan fans who were frustrated by the tame nature of their team's loss.
Karunaratne will hope that his team will fight back against Afghanistan and clinch the victory.
Squad
Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Gulbadin Naib(c), Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ali Zadran, Samiullah Shenwari, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan.
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva.
With inputs from AFP