When Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996, Afghanistan did not even have a cricket team. So the fact they failed to pull off what would have been a famous first victory in this tournament against a Test-playing nation should be seen in its proper context.
Still, this will feel like an opportunity missed for a country who have defied the odds to rise to the sport’s top table after being formally recognised by the International Cricket Council only in 2001.
Set a Duckworth-Lewis-Stern-adjusted target of 187 to win in 41 overs, Afghanistan fell 35 runs short. Given they have won more ODIs than Sri Lanka since the 2015 World Cup, victory here would not have been a shock. It would have been significant, though, given that in seven previous World Cup games they had beaten only Scotland. Getting over the line against a full-member nation is the next step.
Given the drama this nerve-jangling contest offered up it was a shame so few people were present to witness it. The official attendance was fewer than 5,000 in a ground that holds 15,200. More disappointing is the fact 8,500 tickets were sold and 3,000 given away to local schools but the vast majority, presumably put off by dire weather forecasts, failed to turn up.
Yet Sri Lanka will just be relieved to have got their campaign back on track after New Zealand thumped them by 10 wickets in their opening game last Saturday.
In the end they were thankful for career-best ODI figures from Nuwan Pradeep, the right-arm seam bowler taking four wickets for 31, and the trusty slingshot of Lasith Malinga, who took three, for a victory that keeps their World Cup hopes alive.
Sri Lanka had thrown away a fine start to their innings, which had seen Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera put on 92 for the first wicket, thanks to a spectacular collapse inspired by Mohammad Nabi.
The off-spinner’s three wickets in the 22nd – Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews falling in the space of five deliveries – turned the contest on its head.
Hamid Hassan, the headbanded fast bowler, then pounced in the next over when he took Dhananjaya de Silva’s outside edge. Sri Lanka had lost four wickets for five runs in 11 balls to slip from 144 for one to 149 for five.
You had to feel for Kusal Perera, who had batted beautifully to secure his 12th ODI half-century. But there was little he could do to stop the collective neurosis at the other end. Thisara Perera was a case in point, run out by Mohammad Shahzad after sharp work in the field.
By the time the rain arrived, Kusal Perera had also gone. You could not really blame him for trying the reverse sweep that saw him deflect Rashid Khan behind on 78, especially after he had watched the agricultural heave that had seen Isuru Udana bowled by Dawlat Zadran in the previous over.
Sri Lanka, 182 for eight after 33 overs, had some respite when the rain fell. When play resumed they added another 19 in 23 balls. It said much that the second-highest scorer in the innings was extras with 35.
Afghanistan’s pursuit of a manageable target got off to a good start when they knocked off 34 of the required runs inside five overs.
But the loss of Mohammad Shahzad, steering Malinga to midwicket, and Rahmat Shah, caught off Udana at slip, and then Pradeep’s dismissal of Hazratullah Zazai got Sri Lanka back into the game.
The big-hitting Hazratullah had been dropped on 24 by Kusal Mendis. Luckily for Sri Lanka the missed chance only cost them six runs as Thisara Perera took a spectacular catch at long leg.
Hashmatullah Shahidi and Nabi also fell as Afghanistan lost five wickets for 23 runs to slip to 57 for five in the 14th over.
A 64-run sixth-wicket stand between the captain, Gulbadin Naib, and Najibullah Zadran stabilised things. But when the former fell leg-before to Pradeep, it left his side still needing 66 with four wickets remaining.
Pradeep and Malinga, along with a with a fine direct-hit run out of Najibullah Zadran by Karunaratne that brought the ninth Afghanistan wicket, ensured there would be no fairytale comeback.